research project
The landscape and naturalistic system 61,40 % of the regional territory is mainly hilly, 24,50% is mountainous and the remaining 14,10% is instead flat. This entails that considerable variety of landscapes and environmental peculiarities which make Sicily a region with very different characteristics. The area considered in the present research, corresponding to the provinces of Ragusa and Syracuse, is characterized by wide tablelands, the Hyblaean Mounts, surrounded, along the coast, by a strip at sea level with features ranging from rocky conditions, to marshes (areas now protected and with high degree of naturalness) and sandy areas. From the geological point of view, there are big differences between the area in the north of the island, which belongs to the Eurasian tectonic plate, and the one in the south, belonging to the African plate. This causes frequent seismic phenomena of both tectonic and volcanic origin in the thrust between the two plates. The territory of the Anapo Valley is characterized by sparse urbanization and medium or small-sized urban settlements. The small Catania area that we are considering is made up of mainly rural and internal territories, in contrast to the big continuous conurbation of the Plain of Catania, on the bottom of the southern slope of Etna. The inland territory of the towns of Syracuse and Ragusa is characterized by small-sized rural and coastal towns and retains excellent natural conditions. Six nature reserves are located in this area and in the surroundings: the nature reserve of Vendicari, those of the rivers Ciane, Simeto and Irminio, the nature oriented reserve of the Biviere and that of Cavagrande del Cassibile. Next to the areas of environmental and landscape value, wide agricultural areas follow each other. They are underused for the most part and have little competitiveness in the international market, though they are rich in valuable endogenous production. The vegetation is mainly characterized by the presence of Mediterranean ecosystems. A thick Mediterranean scrub, a typical vegetable creation, is located in the areas near the coasts, from sea level to 200 metres altitude, and especially in the territories richest in water resources. This is replaced by garrigue, Mediterranean grassland or areas with degraded scrub in the most arid lands. The flora is rich in endemic species and some of them are localized in very small areas, such as the very rare Sicilian Zelkova, which is limited to an area of about half a hectare on the Hyblaean Mounts. Unfortunately, the increasing anthropic pressure, the indiscriminate pasturage and the numerous seasonal fires, together with the climate changes in progress, have considerably reduced the woody areas which used to cover a large part of the island. The Sicilian river system is mostly torrential, with low flows and limited width. In the Anapo Valley there are the rivers Anapo, Cassibile and Irminio, which flow along the deep valleys of the Hyblaean tableland.
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