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The Park

A diversified mosaic of emerged lands and marine environments developing along the coast of Gaeta Gulf...

The public Regional Authority to which the management of Riviera di Ulisse Regional Park has been entrusted was established with the regional law no. 21 of 06/02/2003. The Park includes the Protected Areas of Parco regionale Urbano di Monte Orlando, Parco Suburbano di Gianola e Monte di Scauri, and Promontorio Villa di Tiberio and costa-Torre Capovento-Punta Cetarola Natural Monument.
The Park has been named after the Homeric hero who moored his ships in the current Gulf of Gaeta and supplied with water at Artakie springs, to fight then against the terrible Lestrigons in what is now Sperlonga and fall in love with the famous sorceress in Circeo. The Park covers ha 434 of land and ha 80 of marine area for a total of ha 514, characterized by important environmental features and an extraordinary combination of nature, history, and archaeology.
Riviera di Ulisse Park was born by melting three pre-exsisting protected areas (promontory of Gianola-Monte di Scauri, Monte Orlando, stretch of coast of Sperlonga) each characterized by different environmental features but sharing significant Roman evidences. For this reason, their evident naturalistic value is associated with their historical-archaeological value. Since the late Republican Age (2nd-1st century BC), the whole area of the Gulf of Gaeta (the ancient sinus Amyclanus) have been interested by production facilities and residential quarters, funerary buildings, small ports and fishing places belonging to important representatives of the Roman aristocracy who had chosen this area as a privileged place of residence.

Geology

The geological environments of Riviera di Ulisse Regional Park are extremely varied and interesting, its trails offer the opportunity to observe cliffs, bays, beaches, caves, fossils, tectonic structures, ancient shorelines, soils, and forms of erosion.
The cliffs of Mt. Orlando and Sperlonga are a natural cross section of Aurunci mountains, the mountains of the Park belong to.

Flora and Fauna

The factors which determined the evolution of the living systems in the protected territory of Riviera di Ulisse Park are many, and some of these are still in progress.
As a matter of fact, thanks to the favorable climatic and topographical conditions of the area, man has chosen to settle and work here since ancient times, influencing and shaping the vegetation and, as a consequence, the local spontaneous fauna.

Vegetation

The Park vegetation is formed by the characteristic formations of the Mediterranean maquis: the garigue, the low maquis, the mixed woodlands dominated by Holm Oaks (Quercus ilex) and Cork Oak (Quercus suber) and the extreme posting on the cliffs overhanging the sea.