Top 4 Natural Monuments around Cerva

The remains of a large silver fir tree about 400 years old, burned by vandals as a “spite” for the establishment of the National Park.

Monte in the Sila National Park near Villaggio Fratta, a mountain village belonging to the Municipality of Mesoarca.

The Campanaro waterfalls, fed by the Campanaro river, are located near Zagarise. To get to the two waterfalls you have to cross a small suspension bridge and various stairs.

We spent 6 wonderful days in the Sila park, looking for calm at the end of December and beginning of January. The exceptional spring temperatures accompanied us during all our treks. A moment out of time, alone in the world in the middle of '' gigantic '' pines more than a hundred years old! Please leave the areas clean. Bring your trash! Thanks.

Tirivolo is a small mountain village, which is located at an altitude of 1580 meters. According to analyzes in 2010 it was defined as the area with the cleanest air in Europe. The area is known for its forest area.

Sila Piccola La Sila is in the heart of Calabria. It is a plateau that extends over 1,700 square kilometers with an average elevation of more than 1,300 meters above sea level.m. It is surrounded by a mountain crown whose highest peak, Monte Botte Donato, reaches 1,928 meters. It is covered by a vast forest made up mostly of conifers and beeches. In the Sila, rich in water resources, artificial lakes have been created that fit perfectly into the enchanting natural context of the place. The Sila area, which concerns the provinces of Catanzaro, Cosenza and Crotone, is made up of a granite-crystalline massif bordering on the Sybaris plain to the north, the Crati Valley to the west, the Lamezia plain to the south and the Lamezia plain to the east Hills bordering the margraviate. The area is broadly divided into Sila Greca, Sila Grande and Sila Piccola. These names do not have precise morphological meaning but reflect administrative subdivisions inherited from the past. Text / Source: Silaonline http://www.silaonline.it/sila/

Sila is a huge plateau of the Calabrian Apennines The Sila is a vast plateau of the Calabrian Apennines that extends over 150,000 hectares through the provinces of Cosenza, Crotone and Catanzaro, divided from north to south into Sila Greca, Sila Grande and Sila Piccola and characterized by the presence of various mountain peaks, plateaus, dense forest areas and artificial lakes on the high seas. Seat of the oldest National Park in Calabria, the Sila National Park and its Authority were established by Decree of the President of the Republic of November 14, 2002, which includes the areas already included in the "historical" National Park of Calabria (1968) and areas of significant ecological interest protect a total of 73,695 hectares. Entry into the collective imagination for its forests and mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous trees, its highlands, its rounded peaks, its lakes, the great snowfalls, the stable presence of wolves, the seasonal presence of porcini mushrooms, in an environment sometimes reminiscent of the Nordic-Scandinavian reminiscent , from the highest peaks, depending on their position on the plateau, it is possible on clear days to see the Aspromonte to the south and the Pollino massif to the north, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Plane of Sybaris to the north, the Piana di Sant'Eufemia and the Piana di Gioia Tauro, Sicily, Mount Etna and the Aeolian Islands to the south. Text/Source: Wikipedia https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sila

Biodiversity - Parco Nazionale della Sila To form the plateau there is a multitude of landscapes, with a predominantly alluvial and valley character, with hilly trends, often terraced or extensively flat, extending over about 74,000 hectares in which peaks that reach almost 2000 m also stand out, such as those of Botte Donato, Monte Nero, Volpintesta, Gariglione and Femminamorta. The plateau is crossed by numerous streams, including the Lesse, the Crati, the Mucone and the Trionto, and again the Tacina, the Soleo, the Simeri, the Alli and the Ampollino, which sometimes flow in torrential courses, producing picturesque waterfalls that rise open on various artificial waters, Arvo, Cecita, Ampollino, Ariamacina, Votturino and Passante. A great diversity of plants, which changes with the variation of altitude, is typical of the park's natural landscape. Starting from the foothills of the area, there are three vegetation areas consisting of tree, shrub and herbaceous species that are included in the analysis. The first of the tall Mediterranean maquis, then that of the larch pine (Pinus nigra ssp. calabrica), certainly the most pregnant and connotative of the Silan Forest, and finally the tallest, occupied mainly by beech. The animal biodiversity of the territory of the park includes a total of 175 species of native vertebrates, divided as follows: mammals 65, birds 80 (considered breeding only), reptiles 16, amphibians 12, fishes: 2. This census does not include alien entities and such with an occasional or irregular appearance. The territory of the park is particularly suitable for birds: the availability of different habitats (forests, meadows, pastures, wetlands, etc.) and the presence of extensive forests with a good state of conservation are the basis for the presence of rich and differentiated ornithic communities. In particular, the areas of the park are home to several species of conservation interest, including 13 species of birds listed in Annex 1 of the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC). Ultimately, a real treasure trove of biodiversity. The Silan landscape, apparently very homogeneous due to the gentleness of its slopes and the extensive forest cover, hosts a high biodiversity. The agro-silvo-pastoral practices traditionally practiced in the area concerned have, over time, allowed the preservation of a remarkable natural heritage and helped shape elements of the landscape of particular value or interest. Most of the territory, of accentuated acclicity, is covered with timbers growing both coppice and fustaia which form the basis for a functioning, traditional timber supply chain. The forests are interspersed with pastures used for millennia by vertical transhumance, i.e. grazing sheep and goats, cattle and pigs moving seasonally from the villages of the valley floor to the pastures of hills and mountains, an object for millennia of use by vertical transhumance, ie grazing sheep and goats, cattle and pigs, moving seasonally from the villages of the valley floor to the pastures of hills and mountains. The plateau instead hosts intensive irrigated agriculture, traditionally based on the contribution of artificial ponds, carried out in areas mainly outside the park's boundaries. The crop of income is the potato, also awarded the IGP mark, which absorbs a considerable amount of work and offers productions of great interest, both qualitatively and in terms of turnover. Text / Source: Sila National Park Authority https://www.parcosila.it/it/la-natura/biodiversita-la-natura.html