Calabria: the hidden natural wonders of Italy’s south

Lofty hill villages, ancient ruins and soft white sand – is Calabria Italy’s best kept secret? Not only is the southwest ‘toe’ of the Italian boot blessed by paradise beaches and azure waters, but its nature reserves – with their undisturbed sweeping vistas, deep chasms and rare floral and fauna – are hard to beat. Here are the best of the best.

Riserva Naturale Foce del fiume Crati

Best for… aquatic lovers

Located in the province of Cosenza, the reserve at the mouth of the Crati river is a naturalist’s delight. Home to more than 800 species, from marine invertebrates and vertebrates, to phytoplankton, flora and fauna, it is Calabria’s most important transitional aquatic environment, where fresh water and sea water collide and cormorants, flamingos, common stints and marsh turtles are in abundance. Reed beds, sandy islands and flooded riparian woodlands thick with willows, cottonwood and tamarisk trees make up the reserve, which studies confirm create essential food sources for all fish fauna of the wider Alto Ionio Cosentino area. The reserve is also home to a hygrophilous lowland forest, a relic of ancient forests that covered vast areas of the territory. Today it is one of the rare patches of untouched humid forests in the Mediterranean basin.

Write home about: This wealth of biodiversity would not be complete without the sighting of a seahorse. The reserve is home to both the short-snouted seahorse and the spiny, long-snouted seahorse – unusual for this part of the Mediterranean.

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Riserva Naturale del Lago di Tarsia

Best for… bird watching

It’s easy to feel biophilic in Riserva Naturale del Lago di Tarsia, a lake basin upstream of the Strette di Tarsia dam between the municipalities Tarsia and Santa Sofia d’Epiro, where the opening and closing of the dam cause seasonal variations in water flow. Some 720 flora types and 182 species call this humid Special Conservation Area home, from migratory birds of prey (marsh harriers and red kites) to eels, long-eared owls, Hermann’s tortoises, and Apennine yellow-bellied toads. A stroll through the eastern part of the reserve will reveal a rich display of undisturbed holm oak, elm, tamarisk and strawberry trees, while reed thickets and cattails are dotted throughout the shallow waters.

Write home about: Know your great white egrets from your Italian knights? You’ll be able to tick off your bird-watching bucket list here. Listen in for the noisy bill-clattering of the white stork or the more delicate squeak of the richly coloured bee-eater. 

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Riserva Naturale Valli Cupe

Best for… the inner geologist

Situated at the foot of Sila mountain, the highest point of the northern sector of the Calabrian-Pelorite arch, the Riserva Naturale Valli Cupe really has it all – gushing waterfalls, deep sandstone gorges, ancient settlements and cliffs thick with vegetation. Start your hike on the Fosso Valli Cupe trail to view the rugged, vertically cut walls of the Valli Cupe canyon – a rare formation of polygenic conglomerate and sandstone matrix – and one of Europe’s largest canyons. It’s home to many species, from kestrels and owls to the rare spectacled salamander. Take the Torrente Campanaro route next, with its constant waterfalls. The 57m-high Rupe waterfall, carved into granite rock and surrounded by rare tropical ferns, and the Inferno waterfall, set in a narrow gorge with a deep pool surrounded by a grove of laurel oak, are not to be missed. After a stop admiring the 500-year-old chestnut tree affectionally named ‘The Good Giant’, you’ll finish your route in the ancient village of Zagarise.

Write home about: Jeep tours, wild trekking and geological hiking are all available at the reserve. Feeling adventurous? Book a guided tour at night to see the stars shimmer – and the ground alive with nocturnal creatures.

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