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Gargano (Italian: [ɡarˈɡaːno]) is a historical and geographical sub-region in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of a promontory projecting into the Adriatic Sea, the "spur" on the Italian "boot".
The high point is Monte Calvo at 1,065 m (3,494 ft). Most of the upland area, about 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi), is part of the Gargano National Park, founded in 1991.
The Gargano peninsula is partly covered by the remains of an ancient forest, Foresta Umbra, the only remaining part in Italy[citation needed] of the ancient oak and beech forest that once covered much of Central Europe as well as the Apennine deciduous montane forests ecoregion. The Latin poet Horace spoke of the oaks of Garganus in Ode II, ix.
In this region since 1978 a feud has been fought between the clans of the Società foggiana.
The coast of Gargano houses numerous beaches and tourist facilities, including resorts such as Vieste, Peschici and Mattinata. The two major salt lakes of Lesina and Varano are located in the northern part of the peninsula. Gargano is the site of the oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to the archangel Michael: the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel.
Other tourist attractions includes the Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, the Abbey of Saint Mary of Ripalta (Lesina) and the volcanic rocks, dating back to the Triassic Period, known as "Black Stones" in Lesina, as well as the Sanctuary of Saint Nazario.
The Gargano peninsula is associated with the Gargano fauna, also referred to as the Terre Rosse ("Red Soils") fauna or the Mikrotia fauna. Between the Miocene and the early Pliocene, this area consisted of large island that included both the modern Gargano peninsula proper and adjacent parts of peninsular Italy, with other locales associated with its fauna having been found in Scontrone and Palena, Abruzzo. Like other island endemic environments, the Gargano fauna was notably unbalanced. Mammals were represented chiefly by rodents and other microfauna, all of which displayed island gigantism, alongside a single species of marine otter and one native genus of ruminants. Birds were also well-represented, including both giant and flightless species, and birds of prey made up a large proportion of the island's native predators. Among the rodents, glirids were especially diverse.
The fossils have been primarily recovered from partially infilled paleokarst fissures across Monte Gargano. Locales in Abruzzo consist instead of marine and beach deposits.
Early descriptions of the Gargano fauna speculated that it originated from a single colonization event through a direct land bridge or a series of close islands, either through the Apennines chain or from the Balkan Peninsula, potentially associated with the desiccation of the Mediterranean basin during the Messinian salinity crisis in the late Miocene. This was challenged beginning in the 1980s on the basis of the low and fragmented biodiversity of the fauna and the "staggered" appearance of new taxa, suggesting multiple waves of colonization through indirect methods such as rafting or flying during periods of low sea level. Some paleontologists, beginning with P.M. Butler in 1980, have speculated that the Gargano fauna was "seeded" by a surviving relic of an older continental fauna later added to by invasions of other species, in part to account for the presence of animals like amphibians that cannot easily cross saltwater.
The surface features of the ancient karst developed in Mesozoic limestone. In these, sediment accumulated together with the remains of the local fauna, forming thick layers of reddish, massive or crudely stratified silty-sandy clays, known as terrae rossae ("red soils"). Through the mid-Pliocene, some of these deposits were flooded, probably due to tectonic movement of the Apulian Plate. Others were overlaid by other sediments of terrestrial or freshwater origin. In this way a buried, partially reworked paleokarst originated.[citation needed]
Later, as the ice ages cycle got underway, sea levels sank and the former island was continentalized. In the cool and semiarid conditions of the Early Pleistocene (some 1.8–0.8 mya) a second karstic cycle occurred, producing the neokarst which removed part of the paleokarst fill.[citation needed]
The Gargano Island endemic mammals included:
Non-endemic mammals found on the island included:
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Bird species occurring at Gargano included (studied by Ballmann, 1973, 1976):
According to Pellegrini, Gargano is home to area IIIb of Southern Italo-Romance varieties. Each town, in turn, speaks its own sub-variety. The Candeloro (or Candelaro in Italian) river defines the boundaries of the promontory as well as the borders with area IIb (that of Foggiano varieties).
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41°43′59″N 15°45′00″E / 41.733°N 15.750°E
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