The Natural Reserve of Torre Guaceto |
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Collection title
Linea Verde
First broadcast date
10/10/2010
Abstract
Discovery of the Natural Reserve of Torre Guaceto in Apulia. The documentary presents the fauna and flora of the reserve, the towers that characterize the coast of Apulia (Puglia in italian).
Agriculture and fishing are illustrated by some fishermen, the registration of the fish caught, the cultivation and the distribution of the tomato known as "fiaschetto".
Nature is also shown through the conservation of turtles in the reserve.
Views from helicopter in flight of cities and seas of Apulia.
Broadcaster
RAI - RAI Uno
Audiovisual form
Documentary
Primary theme
Geography and landscapes
Credits / Cast
- Isoardi Elisa - Journalist
- Ciccolella Alessandro - Participant
Map locations
- Italy - South Italy - Torre Guaceto
Original language
Italian
Context
The Natural Reserve at Torre Guaceto
Cyril Isnart
Linea Verde is a series on the Italian Rai Uno channel. The first season was in 2008, the idea being to make viewers aware of the agricultural, environmental and cultural wealth of Italy’s regions. This episode is about the nature reserve at Torre Guaceto, in Puglia, a few kilometres from the regional capital of Brindisi.
A national nature reserve since 2000, ecological and heritage interest in this area of Mediterranean coast began in the 1970’s, when people realised an endemic species of tortoise was endangered. Projects to build a nuclear facility or set up mass tourism resorts as well as national and international programmes to protect nature, such as “Natura 2000”, definitively put this coastal region on the map, confirming its status with its concentration of historical relics, natural features and species of rare plants and animals.
The area covers 1,200 hectares, including stretches of coast-line and a marine space. Human activities such as fishing, tourism and agriculture are controlled to protect the unique wetland, with its fauna and indigenous flora, and certain military monuments dating from the 15th century, for example the reserve’s architectural emblem, the Torre Guaceto [the Guaceto Tower] which also gave the reserve its name. The nature reserve is managed by a consortium of Brindisi’s and Carovigno’s town councils and WWF Italia, which means it’s possible to make sure the protection policies are carried out. Traditional fishing, for example, is limited to one day a week. Tomato production, “pomodoro fiaschetto” is totally organic and open to markets outside the region. The reintroduction of the Hermann tortoises is carefully monitored by a team of scientists, whose functions are described in the film.
But since Linea Verde is also a programme for cultural tourism, there is a final sequence of helicopter shots of the major towns around Brindisi, with a local journalist talking about the main events in the region’s history (Migration between Greece, Albania and southern Italy, invasions, the history of architecture).
This episode of Linea Verde takes us back to the very first stirrings of interest in the natural and cultural heritage in those Mediterranean regions where economic development does not mean industry. It also shows how the inter-dependence of these different heritages is staged and orchestrated by local authorities in partnership with international NGOs.
Calafati Antonio 2004, Conservazione e sviluppo locale nei parchi natural : un’agenda di ricerca, Revista Geografica Italiana, 1.
Della Setta R. 2000, La difesa del’ambiante in Italia. Storia e cultural del movimento ecologista, Milano, Franco Angeli.
S. Depraz, Géographie des espaces protégés. Genèse, principes et enjeux territoriaux, Armand Colin, Collection U, Paris, 2008
Gissibl, B., S. Höhler & P. Kupper, 2012, Civilizing Nature, National Parks in Global Historical Perspective, Berghahn, Oxford
