NATURALISTIC ROUTES

The Lama Balice Regional Natural Park,

is a protected natural area of ​​504 hectares located in the metropolitan city of Bari.

The area was identified as an equipped natural park on March 24, 1980. Subsequently included in the list of regional protected areas in 1997, it became a regional natural park with the regional law of June 5, 2007. The area extends in the municipalities of Bari and Bitonto. The park is based in Bitonto, at the Maria Cristina di Savoia institute.

The regional park takes its name from the Lama Balice which, with its 37 km long is one of the longest blades in the metropolitan city of Bari. The blade originates between Ruvo di Puglia and Corato and after having crossed the territory of the municipality of Bitonto ends north of the city of Bari, in the Fesca district.

The stream that flows there was once called Tiflis: normally dry, on the occasion of more abundant rainfall it swells due to the contribution of rainwater. The toponym Balice is instead ascribable to the medieval Latin “baligium” that is valley, as the blade is already indicated in a document of the Red Book of Bitonto in which we read baligium qua igitur Barium or “valley through which we reach Bari”.

Some sections of the blade are low and sinuous, while others are steep and have a remarkable rocky stratification. The karst nature of the territory is evident due to the presence of numerous natural cavities to which were added the caves dug by man, which have restored remains from the protohistoric era. The entire Lama Balice basin is characterized by medieval farmhouses, churches and farms. Inside there is Villa Framarino, an ancient masseria, which after the recent restoration has become the seat of the first documentation center in Bari on nature conservation.

The blade, a rest area for the avifauna, has cultivated tracts and others that maintain the original Mediterranean scrub (coccifere oaks, holm oaks, fragni, shrubs). The blade is also of historical importance. There are caves, the “caves of Chianchiarello”, which represent testimonies on the Paleolithic life of the city.

The Alta Murgia National Park,

abbreviated as PnAM, established in 2004, it is a protected natural area located in Puglia, in the provinces of Bari and Barletta-Andria-Trani. The administrative headquarters of the Park is in Gravina in Puglia, in Via Firenze n. 10.

The park covers an area of ​​68,033 hectares. It extends over the highest part of the North-West Murge Plateau.

Coincides with a part of the larger Special Protection Area established to protect the Steppe in Gramineae, habitat of the Grillaio Hawk. (Site of Community Importance).

Among the main attractions of the park is Castel del Monte, one of the most famous castles of the entire Italian south and a world heritage site.

The park has attractions of different types:

  • The Bauxite Mines in the locality of “Murgetta” in the territory of Spinazzola City of Pope Innocent XII and seat of the first Templar Hospital in Puglia;
  • The Swabian castle of Gravina in Puglia;
  • The herbarium museum of Ruvo di Puglia
  • The Robinson municipal park with the attached pine forest of Gravina in Puglia;
  • The “Galietti” pinewood of Santeramo in Colle;
  • The “Mesola” forest of Cassano delle Murge;
  • The “Lagopetto” municipal pine forest of Grumo Appula;
  • The” Mercadante” Forest in the territory of Cassano delle Murge and Altamura,
  • the “Pulo” of Altamura, representing the largest karst doline in the area, about 6 kilometers north of the city of Altamura;
  • the “Lamalunga” cave, a cavity that houses the man from Altamura;
  • the valley of the dinosaurs, where in 1999 dinosaur footprints were found, in Altamura;
  • the “Pulicchio di Gravina”, a very extensive karstic doline, 10 km from the town of Gravina in Puglia;
  • the Grave of “Faraualla”, a deep sinkhole of karstic origin in the territory of Gravina in Puglia;
  • the “Botromagno” Archaeological Park and the Eternal Father of Gravina in Puglia;
  • the Necropolis of “San Magno” in Corato;
  • the Cave of “Santa Maria degli Angeli” in Cassano delle Murge;

Particular are the “jazzi”, rupestrian constructions used during the periods of transhumance, frequent especially in the lands of Andria, Gravina, Ruvo, Minervino e Spinazzola.