Nature

Environment and protected area

Surface: 349 hectares
Altitude: 400 - 700 meters above sea level
Environment: hills/pre-Alps

FAUNA AND FLORA

Among the many mammals living within the protected area, the noteworthy ones are: roe deer, foxes, wild boars, badgers, dormice and squirrels. Among the insects there are 36 species of Ropaloceri lepidoptera, diurnal butterflies and among the amphibians there are salamanders, frogs and toads while green lizards, colubers and wall lizards are common among the reptiles. 
More than eighty percent of the territory of the reserve is covered by forests, mainly coppice chestnut groves mixed with durmasts, while on the northern side the presence of ash trees (Faxinus excelsior) prevails. In the undergrowth, the most common plant species are eagle fern, molinia (molinia arundinacea), luzula nivea, and on the north-facing slopes blueberry and deer fern. Along the Livesa stream there are wetlands filled with black alder trees and stretches with wild hazel groves, ash trees, as well as a chestnut grove area with tall trunks and a stretch mixed with locust. Among the unique species there is also the royal fern, 30 - 150 cm in height, that grows in damp areas and featuring a panicle-like inflorescence visible between June and July.

On the more exposed slopes, several terraces with dry-stone walls prove the area was used, until a few decades ago, for agricultural crops, vineyards, permanent meadows and vegetable gardens. Currently, a limited number of plots are used to cultivate cereals, fruit and grapes.
The hill of Belmonte is characterized by the presence of widespread outcrops of red granite in part compact, in part very altered at the surface, so as to create extensive sandy deposits called "sabbionere" (sandpits). The vegetation at the edge of the sabbionere features heather and molinia (very tall spear grass).