Punta Aderci Regional Nature Reserve

Punta Aderci Regional Nature Reserve safeguards one of the most beautiful and interesting coasts in Abruzzo: a succession of sandy beaches and shingles, high reefs and cliffs, of farm landscapes and maquis shrubland, with the blue and green shades of a very enchanting stretch of the Adriatic coast.

The reserve stretches out on the seaside of Punta Penna, adjacent to the Port of Vasto, at the mouth of the Sinello River. Punta Aderci is the main feature characterizing the entire area, embracing the park and the sea beds below, offering an all-around view of the entire Reserve, where fiery sunsets often highlight the mountain profiles of the three national parks: the la Majella, the Gran Sasso-Laga and the Monti Sibillini.

The scenery is quite extensive with tracts of plains cut by cliffs a sheer drop into the seashore, slopes descending to the sea, dune systems, humid areas such as the Mottagrossa pool and the alluvial plain the Sinello River.

Along the sandy or rocky beaches, groups of plants resistant to brackish water, heat or wind grow accordingly, and from the water’s edge to the interior areas pioneering plants take root first- such as the Maritime Cakile followed by species of the mobile dunes like the Bermuda grass of the beaches and finally those of the fixed dunes, up to the appearance of shrubs and the maquis shrubland.

Among the dune barriers, the water stagnates also thanks to the presence of clays, thus favoring the growth of strips of cane.

The dunes and the river environment are ideal for naturalistic observation and birdwatching.

Here many species of birds pass the winter, such as Herons, Grebes, Sternas, great Cormorants, the western Marsh Harrier and the Kentish plover. Not surprisingly, the Kentish plover is depicted in the logo of the reserve. Internally, towards the cropped plains, we can find the Crested Lark, the Woodchat shrike, the Chiffchaff and prey birds such as the Montagu’s harrier, the common Kestrel and the common Buzzard.

Punta Aderci is a reserve to be discovered with ease, on foot or on a mountain-bike tracing the old railway track, in a canoe or simply enjoying the calm of the pebbled beaches of Libertini or on the small beach of Punta Aderci, where in the distance Stenella dolphins can be observed, and in some caves one may admire the l’Halymenia floresia, considered the most beautiful red seaweed of the Mediterranean.