Oreto River Valley (ITA020012)
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Description

Valley of the Oreto River

Site type: SAC - Special Conservation Area

Code: ITA020012 - Hectares: 158

Description: 

The site includes the fluvial stretch of the Oreto River that develops within the Piana di Palermo, in particular between the Contrada Fiumelato di Meccini (Altofonte) and the mouth. At the height of the Pietra Mole district, at about 90 m asl, it digs a meandering riverbed, to then continue with a more linear trend towards the urban area of ​​Palermo, up to the beach of S. Erasmo. The biotope extends for a total of 155,11 hectares, involving different lithotypes (carbonate deposits of the Triassic-Eocene age, carbonate and silico-carbonatic soils of the Middle-Lower Miocene Triassic age, brown clays with quartz sandstone levels of the Oligocene-Lower Miocene age and bioclastic calcarenites of the lower-middle Pleistocene). Following the bioclimatic classification proposed by BRULLO et al. (1996), the territory mainly falls within the dry-subhumid thermo-Mediterranean area, with an average temperature between 17,2 and 18,6 ° C and rainfall ranging from about 600 mm of the coastal strip of Palermo, to over 900 mm of the innermost mountainous areas . The vegetation of the watercourse is predominantly characterized by ripisilve to Salix pedicellata and Salix alba (Salicetum albo-pedicellatae) and, further upstream, to Platanus orientalis (Platano-Salicetum pedicellatae), as well as hygro-hydrophytic hives and woodland aspects settled on the outer edges of the watercourse.

It is a biotope of significant naturalistic-environmental importance as, in addition to constituting an oasis of refuge for fauna, it represents an interesting site for the localization of some aspects of riverbed-riparian vegetation. There are some important floristic entities, such as for example Petasites fragrans, Laurus nobilis and Ostrya carpinifolia, but, above all, Platanus orientalis and Carex panormitana, the latter endemic Sicilian-Sardinian with a very limited distribution. In section 3.3 and indicated with the letter D, interesting plant species are reported which in Sicily are quite rare and whose presence in the territory is in any case considered of significant phytogeographic interest.

Source: Ministry of the Environment Natura 2000 form

Ministerial data: Ministerial Map  Natura 2000 form

Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero

Photo: web

Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero, Region of Sicily

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