The quotation by Ungaretti makes us understand how much the Gargano is rich in natural beauties, in fact it is to be considered a small paradise of biodiversity, in fact, even if the Gargano represents only 0,7% of the national territory, it holds 40% of the flora Italian and 70% of birds nested in our country.
Surely the most attractive places in this sense are those of the Umbrian forest, the green lung of southern Italy, about 10.000 hectares of beech, oak and unspoiled nature. There Umbrian forest, which extends between the municipalities of Vieste, Peschici, Vico del Gargano, Carpino e Monte Sant'Angelo, is also rich in fauna: here we can in fact find autochthonous roe deer, foxes, dormice, badgers, wild boars, owls (including the royal owl), owls, barn owls and an infinite number of other species.
Certainly worthy of note are also the orchids of the Gargano, of which 80 species belonging to 17 different genera have been recorded, a record for the Mediterranean basin.
For Bird Watching enthusiasts, visits to the nature reserves of Lake Varano (famous for where the state nature reserve Isola di Varano is located on the island of the same name) and Lake Lesina, famous for its eels (where the Visitor center of the Gargano National Park "Laguna di Lesina", managed by Lipu.) In both lakes, separated from the sea by small strips of land, the avifauna is very rich: numerous cormorants, white herons, ducks and kingfisher.
For those who do not want to move from the inhabited centers, they will surely come across the wonderful centuries-old olive groves, very common throughout the Gargano, as it will be easy to meet the Podolian cows, from whose milk the famous caciocavalli, one of the typical dishes of the Vieste gastronomy
maybe on a hike Trekking and Mountain Biking . Among many things to see in Puglia, the nature of the Gargano is certainly at the top of the list.
