The oldest image is a drawing made in 1842 by the famous German geologist and astronomer Wolfgang Sartorius of Waltershausen entitled "View of Etna taken from the Serravalle Bridge near Bronte". Today it is in a state of total abandonment, degradation and even extreme danger. Under the bridge, a crack steep and impracticable, initially few meters wide and deep, between eighty and one hundred meters high, squeezed between colored basalt walls, enlarges then, for kilometers, luxuriant of vegetation and animal life, among majestic basalt walls. The photographs on the page only partially convey the beauty of the places and the majesty of a site that is still almost untouched; in the video on the right our camera enters the gorges showing them to you in all their majesty. Going down along the river
Going down along the river, in several points, are particularly interesting the formations of polygonal lava, or basalt colonnade, due to the sudden cooling of the lava flow in contact to the Simeto waters, the ample lava terraces that testify the expansion of the volcanic edifice over the territories occupied before by sedimentary outcrop and the typical vegetation that assumes particular features with the Oleander presence, the bush euphorbia, able to grow and branch out over the lava. Over the river gravel bank can be found the inundations constituted both by pebbles of lava, of various color, and by sands, gravel and pebbles of sedimentary origin coming down exactly from the Nebrodi. It is not rare to find amber' pebbles and shells, light-colored that always attract the searchers and that tell us of a far geologic past. The large stony riverbed is often occupied by typical river bank vegetation: canes and oleanders that in spring assume a magnificent blooming. The agricultural landscape is typical of Bronte, with old zones often subjected to floods, changed in fruit orchards, with the very stony ground where the Bronte's farmer has planted vast Pistachio cultivations, and, in some spots, occupied by grazing land steep and degraded, that among the grass cover, the clayey soil characteristics, with large groves, narrow and deep and with steep ridges towards the tops. Around a contrasted landscape and a deeply varied nature, aized tree cultivations that go from the fruit orchards (pears, peaches, etc.) to the clayey pastures alternating with steep lava fields cultivated to pistachio, citrus fruit orchards, olive or almond trees, vegetables, prickly pears, wheat and cereal fields. The fauna component of this ecosystem comprises some reptiles (The collar snake, the viper snake, the leopard snake, maybe the best looking European snake long up to one meter), the lizards (Ramarro, Lacerta viridis o la Podarcis sicula) that hide among the vegetation or among stones and rocks, some amphibious rare species (the Discoglosso), some frogs and toads that live near the river (Bufo bufo spinosus and Bufo viridis) Rare and nearly absolutely absent the fish fauna. The birds population comprises several species sedentary and others migratory: it is not rare to see the ash heron or the egret (Ardea cinerea), they make here a brief stop on their way to zones richer of their preferred foods. In the vegetation near the river can be found birds (the Porciglione) less adapt to fly and they find a typical hiding among the canes, some species of birds of prey as the Hawk, the Kestrel and others. It is not difficult to see and meet the Barn Owl, while in the areas planted with more trees are more frequent other species of Owl. The mammals appear as roaming, coming, in the majority, from close by areas: the Fox, the Porcupine, the Curly, the wild Rabbit and the Hare. The protected zone of the grottoes is still an uncontaminated natural habitat. The wild nature of the site, the evident difficulty and the dangerousness to build in it, have, till now, preserved and saved from any speculation this wonderful area. It is at a few kilometers from Bronte and starts at the bridges of Cantera and Serravalle. With due precaution can be visited. Especially in Summer, you can get to the small natural habitat going down on foot along the gravel bank and go on, even with some difficulty, to the bridge of Passo Paglia district.
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