The Vendicari reserve is an extraordinary oasis of biodiversity. Its flora includes hundreds of different species including Juniper, a protected species, and oceanic Poseidonia, an aquatic plant essential for the biodiversity of the Mediterranean. The reserve represents for over 250 species of birds, including the flamingo, a station to rest and refresh during the migration from Africa. Here nature live on symbiosis with the ruins of an ancient Byzantine settlement, the necropolis and the Byzantine cuba are still clearly visible. The reserve is dominated by sand dunes, a protected ecosystem for the nesting of sea turtles.

HALF DAY ITINERARY Vendicari and Tonnara 3/4 hours

The half-day itinerary is a walking tour along the coast to discover the many habitats and ecosystems present in the reserve, a nesting area for several species of birds including the flamingo. It will be possible to admire this bird from the lookout huts and from extraordinary panoramic points, while they drink in huge stretches of water. The Vendicari reserve represents for many species of birds a station to rest and refresh during the migratory journey from Africa. Along the way we will discover enormous basins of water which constitute the most important ecosystem for the fauna of the reserve, together with the sand dunes, among the highest in Sicily. The dunes are a nesting place for little terns and sea turtles. Nature is the background of some archaeological sites present in the riserve that testify the passage of peoples from different eras. An example is the ancient Tonnara of Vendicari, today an industrial archaeological asset that dates back to the eighteenth century, the Swabian watchtower and the ancient ovens of Hellenistic origin, today incorporated into the cliff of Vendicari, near which there is one of the beaches of the reserve where will be possible to swim.

FULL DAY ITINERARY Vendicari, Tonnara and Calamoche beach 5/6 hours

The full-day itinerary will lead us to discover, in addition to the places mentioned in the half-day itinerary, also the beautiful beach of Calamosche. What awaits you is a coastal trek that runs through the Vendicari reserve almost in its entirety, offering us the opportunity to discover one of the most beautiful and particular beaches in Sicily. The trail offers an extraordinary coastal landscape full of natural glimpses and panoramic points, and allows you to get to the beach of Calamosche, whose particularity is both of a geological nature, with the two promontories overhanging the sea that delimit it to the right and to the left, and naturalistic, here the waters are among the most crystalline and limpid in Sicily.