The Foresta Umbra forest

Fact file

• Sinkholes
  A karst area, scattered with highly evocative, lust hollows, the outcome of depressions and slumps. Among them, the Dolina Pozzatina, one of Europe's largest, measuring roughly   600 metres diameter and over 100 metres depth!
• Centuries-old trees
  It is thought that the Parco Nazionale del Gargano  national park boasts Italy's oldest trees.  Its landmarks include  the Zappino dello Scorzone, around 700 years old, situated between Peschici and San Menaio, and the Zappino di Don Francesco, slightly younger, in the Calenella area
• Beech forests
  Beech forests thriving at relatively low levels, around 250 metres ASL, contribute to the uniqueness of the Foresta Umbra forest. Such unusual and rare context suggests that the fragile ecosystem is the outcome of gradual climate change over the millenniums
• Wild orchids
  The Gargano area is also a kind of natural botanical garden. Its range of wild orchids is so wide that it is deemed the greatest in Europe, and visitors flock in from all over, even from America, when it is their time to bloom