The Bosco di Santo Pietro nature reserve spreads over a large sandy plateau furrowed by gullies, between the municipalities of Caltagirone and Mazzarrone, around the small village of Santo Pietro, twenty kilometres from the town. It covers over six thousand five hundred hectares, sloping gently down towards the plain of Vittoria. Originally the wood was far larger: it occupied the south-eastern belt of Sicily, from the Caltagirone hinterland to the coast of Gela and Scoglitti, and tradition makes it a gift of the Norman kings to the people of Caltagirone, as a reward for their help against the Saracens. Fires, illegal grazing and poaching have reduced it, and in 1999 the reserve was established to halt the decline.
What to see
There are more than three hundred plant species, and three main habitats: cork-oak wood, holm-oak wood and garrigue. Of the monumental cork oaks described by the chroniclers few remain: a census counted about fifty, together with some carob trees with trunks three metres in circumference. The holm-oak wood covers a few dozen hectares in the Molara, Coste Stella, Coste Chiazzina and Vaccarizzo districts. In the garrigue rosemary, thyme, heather and mastic dominate.
Among the animals you may meet porcupines, hares, wild rabbits and weasels, and the wildcat and the fox are present. Ninety-six species of birds have been observed, among them tits, the Sardinian warbler, the jay, the great spotted woodpecker, the penduline tit and the kestrel, which in dialect is called «muschittu».
Visiting
The mild climate allows walks all year round, but the best seasons are spring, for the flowering, and autumn, for the colours. The best-known route starts from the village, crosses the pine and eucalyptus plantations and reaches the little valleys of the Fontana del Cacciatore and the Molara, where you walk in a loop around what remains of the cork-oak wood. Access and rules should be checked with the managing body.
Our editors' tip
In the Molara district a monumental cork oak still stands. The reserve also has a museum of the Mediterranean maquis, in an old restored building, and, near Piano Renelle, the little church of Santa Maria dell'Idria.
