The Regional Nature Park of Porto Selvaggio, which covers an area of 1,100 hectares in the municipality of Nardò, was established in a coastal area where reforestation began in the 1950’s. The landscape, once bare and rocky, is today covered with a thick pine forest, framed by the splendid Ionian Sea. The habitat is mostly covered by forests, but there are also pseudo-steppe paths, areas full of grasses and annual plants and jagged cliffs. A few metres from the coast, the Palude del Capitano demonstrates the effect of karst processes with the spunnulate, or caves, whose vaults have collapsed, creating small salt-water lakes.
Immersed in the Parco Naturale Regionale Portoselvaggio and the Palude del Capitano, between lakes, coastal views and fragrant pine forests, Portoselvaggio overlooks the Ionian Sea. Pathways lead through the forest that edges the cliff reflected in the crystal clear sea to the Baia di Uluzzo, a Palaeolithic deposit of stone artefacts and the remains of large mammals which has given the name to the so-called “Uluzziana” civilization. Further down the path, the Grotta di Capelvenere takes its name from a fern. Here artefacts dating to the earliest Messapian, Roman and Medieval settlements have been found.
A terraced path leads up to the Torre dell’Alto, one of the most imposing Aragonese fortifications built to defend the Salento coastline. The Dannata, a precipice on the edge of a 50km drop to the sea, is the site of a 19th century tragedy when a young girl jumped off to escape jus primae noctis (droit du seigneur), threatened by Gian Gerolamo Acquaviva, Count of Conversano and Duke of Nardò.
Apulia Film Commission
Cineporti di Puglia/Bari — c/o Fiera del Levante - Lungomare Starita 1 — 70132 Bari
Phone: +39 080 9752900
Fax: +39 080 9147464
Email: email@apuliafilmcommission.it
