Excursion to the Conero regional natural park

The Regional Natural Park of Conero is situated in the central-eastern part of the Italian peninsula where it covers an area of about 6,000 ha (Fig. 1). The protected area extends in a north-south direction for a distance of about 20 Km, reaching a maximum width corresponding to Conero Mountain (about 7 Km) and narrowing towards its northern extremity.The wide floristic and biocoenotic biodiversity which characterises the area is determined by its central position with respect to the basin of the Adriatic Sea, by the height of the Conero promontory, which with its height of 572 m greatly surpasses the average of the Italian Adriatic coast, and by the diversity of the geological, geomorphological and climatic conditions of the territory enclosed by the Natural Park (Brilli-Cattarini, 1967; Biondi, 1986).The agricultural, timbering and shepherding activities that were very developed in the past have contributed in part to the increase in the biodiversity of the territory, determining a high diversification of the plant landscape and favouring the development of ecotonal areas. The abandonment of the agricultural activities in large areas that followed, and of the timbering and shepherding activities in almost all of the territory, has determined the development of the natural dynamic processes of the recovery of the vegetation.