Gargano
(Redirected from
Gargano Promontory
)
Gargano (Italian: Gargano Promontory projecting into the Adriatic Sea, the "spur" on the Italian "boot".
Monte Calvo
The high point is Monte Calvo at 1,065 m (3,494 ft). Most of the upland area, about 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi), is part of the
Gargano National Park
, founded in 1991.
The Gargano peninsula is partly covered by the remains of an ancient forest, Foresta Umbra, the only remaining part in Italy[citation needed] of the ancient oak and beech forest that once covered much of Central Europe as well as the Apennine deciduous montane forests ecoregion. The Latin poet Horace spoke of the oaks of Garganus in Ode II, ix.
In this region since 1978 a feud has been fought between the clans of the Società foggiana.[1]
Tourism
The coast of Gargano houses numerous beaches and tourist facilities, including resorts such as
Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano
.
Other tourist attractions include San Giovanni Rotondo, the Abbey of Santa Maria of Ripalta (Lesina) and the volcanic rocks, dating back to the Triassic Period, known as "Black Stones" in Lesina, as well as the Sanctuary of San Nazario.
Annual events
- St Primianoand the saint sailing-race on 15 May
- St Nazario and the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary with the same name on July 28
- St Rocco's Day on 15, 16 and 17 August in Rignano Garganico
- Procession of the Fracchie on Good Friday in San Marco in Lamis
- Saint Valentine's day in Vico del Gargano
- Pilgrimages (cumpagnie) to the shrine of San Michele Arcangelo in Monte Sant'Angelo on May 8 and September 29
- Gargano Running Week is held in October, the first time in 2014 and includes FIDAL.[2]
Gargano Peninsula fossils
Some 12 to 4 million years ago, during the
evolved on what was then Gargano Island due to higher sea levels than today. Several of these animals were subject to island gigantism
.
The
butterflies
.
The surface features of the ancient
freshwater
origin. In this way a buried, partially reworked paleokarst originated.
Later, as the
semiarid conditions of the Early Pleistocene
(some 1.8–0.8 mya) a second karstic cycle occurred, producing the neokarst which removed part of the paleokarst fill.
Fauna
The Gargano Island endemic mammals included:
- Deinogalerix - 5 species of gymnures ("hairy hedgehogs"), among them the giant D. koenigswaldi with a skull of c.20 cm length. (Freudenthal, 1972; Butler, 1980)
- canine teeth. They ranged from tiny to the size of a red deer, and large and small ones apparently occurred at the same time rather than one evolving from the other. (Leinders 1984, van der Geer 2005, van der Geer 2008)
- Mikrotia - 3 or more species of murine rodent. The largest species, M. magna, had a skull 10 cm long. (Freudenthal, 1976, Parra et al., 1999)
- Paralutra garganensis - an endemic species of otter. (Willemsen, 1983)
- Prolagus imperialis and P. apricenicus - huge endemic pika species- P. imperialis was larger than any other known Prolagus.(Mazza, 1987)
- Stertomys - 5 species of dormouse, among them the giant S. laticrestatus (Daams and Freudenthal, 1985) and four smaller species (Freudenthal and Martín-Suárez, 2006)
- Hattomys - 3 species of giant hamsters, among them the giant H. gargantua. (Freudenthal, 1985)
Non-endemic mammals found on the island included:
- Apodemus gorafensis - a field mouse
- A prehistoric species of Cricetus hamster(Freudenthal, 1985)
- Megacricetodon - another hamster (Freudenthal, 1985)
Bird species occurring at Gargano included (studied by Ballmann, 1973, 1976):
- Apus wetmorei, a swift.
- pigeonfossils known. It probably was more widespread and if so, the older name C. pisana would likely apply to it.
- Garganoaetus freudenthali and Garganoaetus murivorus - twoLophaetus).
- goose-like waterfowl[5]
- "Strix" perpasta - a brown fish-owl (Mlíkovský 2002) but this taxonwas usually known from later times.
- Bubo bubo. T. robustawas also large; this species and the former were endemic but actually seem to have been chronosubspecies. The supposed remains of the smaller T. sanctialbani found at Gargano are now placed in the widespread Tyto balearica.
- an indeterminate woodpecker.
Languages
According to Pellegrini,[6] Gargano is home to area IIIb of Southern Italo-Romance varieties. Each town, in turn, speaks its own sub-variety. The Candeloro (or Candelaro in Italian) river defines the boundaries of the promontory as well as the borders with area IIb (that of Foggiano varieties).[7]
See also
- Daunia
- Tavoliere delle Puglie
- Apulia
- Garganica, the local breed of goat
- Trabucco, a giant fishing machine belonging to Gargano tradition
- 1627 Gargano earthquake
References
- ^ "Arrestato Li Bergolis, il boss del Gargano: era tra i 30 latitanti più pericolosi d'Italia". IlSole24Ore. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "Gargano Running Week". Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ISBN 9780520256491.
- ^ MLÍKOVSKÝ, JIŘÍ (2002). "CENOZOIC BIRDS OF THE WORLD" (PDF). nm.cz. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
- PMID 28280574.
- ^ Pellegrini, Gian Battista (1977). Carta dei dialetti d'Italia. Firenze: Litografia Artistica Cartografica.
- ^ Valente, Vincenzo (1975). Profilo dei Dialetti italiani: Puglia/Salento. Pisa: Pacini.
Sources
- Butler, M., 1980. The giant erinaceid insectivore, Deinogalerix Freudenthal, from the upper Miocene of Gargano, Italy. Scripta Geologica 57, 1-72.
- Daams, R., Freudenthal, M. (1985): "Stertomys laticrestatus, a new glirid (dormice, Rodentia) from the insular fauna of Gargano (Prov. of Foggia, Italy)." Scripta Geologica 77: 21–27. [1] (includes full text PDF)
- Freudenthal, M. (1972): "Deinogalerix koenigswaldi nov. gen., nov. spec., a giant insectivore from the Neogene of Italy." Scripta Geologica 14: 1-19 [2](includes full text PDF)[1]
- Freudenthal, M. (1976): "Rodent stratigraphy of some Miocene fissure fillings in Gargano (prov. Foggia, Italy)". Scripta Geologica 37: 1-23 [3] (includes full text PDF)
- Freudenthal, M. (1985) "Cricetidae (Rodentia) from the Neogene of Gargano (Prov. of Foggia, Italy)". Scripta Geologica 77: 29-76. [4] (includes full text PDF)
- Freudenthal, M., Martín-Suárez, E. (2006): "Gliridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene Fissure Filling Biancone 1 (Gargano, Province of Foggia, Italy)." Palaeontologia Electronica 9.2.6A: 1-23.
- Leinders, J.J.M. (1984): "Hoplitomerycidae fam. nov. (Ruminantia, Mammalia) from Neogene fissure fillings in Gargano (Italy); part 1: The cranial osteology of Hoplitomeryx gen. nov. and a discussion on the classification of pecoran families". Scripta Geologica 70: 1-51, 9 plates.
- Mazza, P (1987). "Prolagus apricenicus and Prolagus imperialis: two new Ochotonids (Lagomorpha, Mammalia) of the Gargano (Southern Italy)". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 26 (3): 233–243.
- Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe: 215. Ninox Press, Prague.
- Parra, V.; Loreau, M. & Jaeger, J.-J. (1999): "Incisor size and community structure in rodents: two tests of the role of competition". Acta Oecologica 20(2): 93-101. (HTML abstract)
- Van der Geer, A.A.E. (2005). "The postcranial of the deer Hoplitomeryx (Mio-Pliocene; Italy): another example of adaptive radiation on Eastern Mediterranean Islands" (PDF). Monografies de la Societat d'Història Natural de les Balears. 12: 325–336.
- Van der Geer, A.A.E. (2008). "The effect of insularity on the Eastern Mediterranean early cervoid Hoplitomeryx: the study of the forelimb" (PDF). Quaternary International. 182 (1): 145–159. .
- Willemsen, G.F. (1983). "Paralutra garganensis sp. nov. (Mustelidae, Lutrinae), a new otter from the Miocene of Gargano, Italy". Scripta Geologica. 72: 1–8. (includes full text PDF)
External links
Media related to Gargano at Wikimedia Commons
- Parco Nazionale del Gargano
- Official Tourism Information
- Pictures from the Gargano and Vieste (in Italian)
41°43′59″N 15°45′00″E / 41.733°N 15.750°E
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- ^ Freudenthal, M. (December 1972). "Deinogalerix koenigswaldi nov. gen., nov. spec., a giant insectivore from the Neogene of Italy". www.repository.naturalis.nl.