A thousand paths, four steps, one destination

“ADELASIA” REGIONAL NATURAL RESERVE
Area: 1,273 hectares
Description of the territory
In addition to the geo-morphological rocks (Rocca dell’Adelasia and Karst phenomena), to the geological
complexity and richness of water streams, with pools, falls, and meanders, the woods are the main attraction
of the reserve, the only vast protected area in Liguria which is totally public property. The beech groves
are extremely beautiful, with majestic secular trees, along with Mediterranean vegetable formations and
grasslands full of orchids. There are numerous rare or interesting botanical species, like the cork oak, the
sycamore maple tree, the line tree, the ruscus, the bilberry, St. John’s lily, gulf coast swallow wort, and Ligurian
saffron. The wild fauna is represented by mammals, such as the wild boar, the fallow deer and roe deer, the
fox, the badger, and the skunk, the “greater horseshoe” bat, by birds, among which the sparrow-hawk, the
honey buzzard, the green woodpecker, the great spotted woodpecker, the Eurasian nuthatch, the whitethroated
dipper, the kingfisher, but perhaps, the water environments are the ones that house the most
interesting species, thanks to the presence of rare amphibians (newts, yellow and black salamanders) and the
crayfish. The network of objects, hydraulic works, road infrastructures, forest cultivations, connected to the
workmanship of iron and glass started in the Middle Ages, is still visible today. These places were the scenery
of the great Napoleonic battle of Montenotte in 1796.
How to get there
Beechwood in the Adelasia Reserve - Photographed by P. Genta
Municipalities involved: Cairo Montenotte (SV)
Managed by: Province of Savona, Parks and Protected Areas Office, Via Amendola 10, 17100 Savona
Tel. +39 019 8313545 - Fax +39 019 8313517 - email: p.genta@provincia.savona.it
website: www.provincia.savona.it
By car: highway Turin- Savona (toll booth: Altare): then follow towards Ferrania and Montenotte;
By bus: ACTS 61 (Savona - Cairo M.) and 51 lines (Cairo M.- Ferrania). Bus service “EscursioniBus” upon booking
- Arancio line. ACTS toll free number 800 012727;
By train: Savona - Acqui Terme line (Ferrania station).
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