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Visit WWF Oasis in southern Tuscany

Terre di Sacra, Capalbio 05 September 2019 Excursions in Maremma

The first WWF Oasis in Italy was established in Tuscany, at Burano, thanks to the boost by Terre di Sacra partners in 1967. Today there are 17 Oases in this region and they protect over 3500 hectares of nature from urban speculation and hunting.  

WWF Nature Reserves are a wonderful heritage of experiences, flora and fauna that deserves to be discovered. We all live lives disconnected from what surrounds us and a tour of WWF Oases can be the chance to regain and remember a side of nature that we usually do not see.
There are three Oases in southern Tuscany that are worth a tour because of their unique features: Orbetello, Orti Bottagone and Burano Oasis which lies within Terre di Sacra.

The Orbetello Lagoon Oasis

The Orbetello Lagoon Oasis stretches for 850 hectares. It is a salty lagoon where silt islands covered with swamp plants occasionally emerge. On the inner shore, you can find Salicornia, a plant that owes its fame to its large use made by famous chefs on TV shows. Entering the Oasis, you’ll discover poplar, ash, cork oak and elm small woods.

On the Giannella Tombolo, the coastline is covered by lush Mediterranean maquis with myrtles, rosemaries and tamarisks.

The Orbetello Lagoon is located along the migratory route of many bird species. Its rich vegetation makes it an ideal destination for thousands of birds in its large expanse of water such as flamingos, black-winged stilts, great white egrets and ospreys. Some of the mammals living here are foxes, badgers, porcupines.

There are numerous observation hides inside the Oasis to watch birds as well as an environmental educational center inside an ancient Spanish farmhouse dated 1600’s. The tour of the Oasis is divided into three itineraries: the first is oriented to watching the avifauna through a 9-observation-hide itinerary. The second is a botanical itinerary. The third is that of the Giannella Tombolo’s farmhouse where you can visit the exhibition on wetlands and the butterfly garden.

Orti Bottagone Oasis

The Padule Orti Bottagone Oasis is located in the Piombino municipality, Livorno province, and lies at about a hundred kilometers from Terre di Sacra. The establishment of WWF Nature Reserve of Orti-Bottagone wetland dates back to 1998 but WWF’s protection of this area dates back to 1978.

The 126 hectares of this area extend along a level coastline, today surrounded by power stations and industrial plants. Due to significant human settlements, this landscape, which testifies past mashlands covering the low Val di Cornia, represents an Oasis of biodiversity. 

Flora differs from salty areas’ to fresh water wetlands’. Environmental guides taking you on a tour of the Oasis will show you the nearness and incredible variety of vegetation in the two areas, so close yet so far away.

In the Orti-Bottagone Oasis 203 species have been registered, such as mallards, pink flamingos, grey herons, snipes, common curlews, Eurasian marsh harriers, peregrine falcons. Typical inhabitants of the Orti-Bottagone Oasis are flamingos, located in the northern part of the reserve inside a 50-hectare area. They are being regularly monitored due to the Reserve’s strategic position along major migratory routes.

During the visit, while observing flamingos, guides will help you identify their colorful rings from the distance. From the Visitor Center, two Nature Paths depart, which are connected to each other and that allow you to visit this Oasis.