Geloi Wetland is a protected natural area in the municipality of Gela, created in 2017 on land reclaimed from abandonment and illegal building. According to the sources it is today rich in birdlife and hosts the largest Italian colony of storks.
What to see
From the 1960s, with the Eni petrochemical refinery, the territory of Gela changed from rural to industrial, with intensive greenhouse crops that, the sources say, impoverished the soil and altered the landscape. In 2017, with the approval of the Management Plan for the Natura 2000 areas, Geloi Wetland was born, a project of the German non-profit foundation Stiftung Pro Artenvielfalt (Pro Biodiversity Foundation) with the volunteers of the Centro di Educazione Ambientale ODV of Niscemi; the main donor, besides the German one, is its Swiss twin foundation. The project aims to restore a wetland to protect birdlife, above all migratory, with a buffer zone around the marshes in which to encourage organic, environment-friendly farming; among its goals is to become a stronghold of legality and a model against desertification. The name joins the English word wetland and Geloi, the ancient name of the area as it appears in Virgil's Aeneid.
The site lies in the Piana di Gela, a coastal alluvial plain formed by the river Gela and its tributaries Maroglio and Cimia, which is part of a Special Protection Area. The gulf lies on the route of migratory birds from North Africa: between February and April alone the waterbirds counted exceed forty-five thousand, and 154 species have been observed. Lesser kestrel, stone-curlew, collared pratincole, calandra lark, greater short-toed lark, roller and white stork nest here; in winter lapwings and golden plovers arrive. The flora includes temporary brackish marshes, now rare, and wild orchids such as the endemic Serapias orientalis siciliensis; among the insects, a beetle, Anthelephila caeruleipennis, reported for the first time in Italy right at Geloi.
Visiting
Geloi lies in the Piana di Gela, along the route of the Via Francigena Fabaria, a walking path of 300 kilometres that starts from Agrigento, continues along the coast to Gela and then towards the Piana di Lentini and the Simeto. The sources consulted give no opening hours or access arrangements for the area: check them with the managers before going.
Our editors' tip
Look out for the «Cicogna Days»: days when LIPU volunteers take participants to watch the nesting of the white stork up close, without disturbing it. They are the main event of the LIPU section of Niscemi, which also organises walks, excursions, workshops and bike rides.
