Tor Caldara Reserve

The coasts of the Lazio Region have, unfortunately, all too often been spoilt by construction that is too dense and does not fit in very well with the landscape, or have been altered by land reclamation. The Tor Caldara Reserve, however, has preserved a very beautiful and important area of spontaneous vegetation, with ponds and beds of reeds and a fascinating sulphurous spring, which is home to quite rare animal and plant species.

Take the Via Nettunese by car towards Lavinio as far as the locality of Villa Claudia; turn right here for the entrance to the Tor Caldara Reserve. The sentiero natura, the nature trail, begins immediately to the left of the visitors’ centre: it leads first to an area with facilities: a small lake for lacustrian fauna, where migrating birds also stop, aviaries to shelter and treat injured birds, a pen in which tortoises, becoming rarer and rarer, are cared for and a nursery garden of Mediterranean herbs.

Turn left again crossing a thick ilex wood, with perhaps a glimpse of a wild rabbit or a dormouse, to another small lake where a rare species of fern prospers, the osmund royal; a path between the trees starts from the other side of the lake. Go on to small bridge with a sight of the sulphur quarries that were exploited in the past and the sulphur springs that give their name to the area (the Caldane or Caldare), where the bee-eater nests periodically. Go back along the nature trail and turn left, passing sections of 2nd World War trenches dug out during the Anzio landing, to a small artificial lake fed by the sulphur springs. The reconstruction of a lestra is visible to the left, a characteristic hut for the shepherds passing through the area with their flocks at the change of season. Beyond the hut there is a path that leads to a view over the plain of the Torre delle Caldane, a watch-tower built by Marcantonio Colonna in 1565 near a 2nd century Roman villa. Then return to the entrance by the same path, passing the donkey and wild boar enclosure.

Information
Starting point: Lido delle Sirene, Lavinio
Riserva Naturale di Tor Caldara, 06/9864177