Natural Areas Apulia

The Porto Cesareo Marine Protected Natural Area is an area of the Puglia region established in 1997 by Decree 12 December 1997 of the Ministry of the Environment. It occupies an area of 16,654 ha and is the third largest extension in Italy. The area is divided into three zones with different protection regime.

Around the island you can find dozens of stones, more or less large, that all together resemble a host of monoliths. These stones are pyramidal in shape and their appearance recalls, in a very particular way, the haystacks that are stacked in the Italian countryside. One of them has a puncture in which it is possible to navigate in it for about twenty meters.

The pulo is set in one part of the Murgia altamurana, where the activity of water has signed the landscape forming channels and holes rich in mineral beauties.

It is a very large rock, about 20 meters high. The form recalls precisely that of an elephant crouching with his trunk stretching towards the water, as if he was drinking or as someone with a more poetic soul states: “The elephant is listening to the sound of an unspoiled sea.”

Punta Secca is located on the island of Caprara and is rich in marine vegetation, ideal for diving. It is possible to dive deep into which you can admire numerous marine species such as horses, lobsters and mullets.

Another place on the Island of Caprara where you can dive is the Rock of the Raven. The backdrop is here rich in gorgonians and entirely coral walls (black coral). The underwater landscape is among the most beautiful for flora and fauna and is the destination for numerous underwater visits. Snappers, bream, lobsters and seahorses are the inhabitants of the seabed. Here the rock goes up to 20/30 meters deep.

It is completely flat and its maximum height does not exceed three meters. This feature brings the island to be swept up by the waves in case of strong wind and makes it less suitable to host a rich vegetation