Forty kilometers of coastline and beauty protected since 1997, between the Sorrento and Amalfi Coasts, including Punta Campanella, in the territories of the Municipalities of Massa Lubrense, Piano di Sorrento,Sorrento, Sant'Agnello, Vico Equense, Positano.
An evocative succession of bays and promontories, steep cliffs that rise sheer above the sea and caves, formed by karst phenomena linked to the calcareous nature of the rocks. Diversified environments, which offer ideal living conditions to the approximately one hundred species of birds that populate them permanently or that stop there during the long seasonal migrations. There are diurnal birds of prey, such as the kestrel and the rare sedentary peregrine falcon, to which buzzards and sparrowhawks are added during migrations, and nocturnal birds such as scops owl,barn owl, raven and wryneck. From the various lookout points available on Monte San Costanzo, Monte Sant'Angelo and Malacoccola, birdwatchers can also enjoy the observation, in their magnificent natural environment, of great spotted woodpeckers, nightingales, thrushes, larks, woodcocks, cuckoos, house martins, blackcaps, warblers, great tits, blue tits, wrens, finches, serins, greenfinches and goldfinches.
In addition to the birds, the coastal strip is home to various wild mammals: foxes, hares, weasels, voles, hedgehogs. And reptiles: field and wall lizards and the swift snake snake.
THE MARINE PARK
The protected area on land, along the coast, is accompanied by the protected area at sea, for a total area of over 1500 hectares. Even the marine part is characterized by a great variety of habitats favorable to a rich biodiversity.
About fifty caves open along the coastal rocky walls, submerged due to the progressive sinking produced by tectonic phenomena. Darkness is the life condition of even rare species such as the nocturnal anemone Halcampoides purpurea. In the cavities, then, some animal species find refuge when young, which, as adults, populate the coastal areas instead.
From the coastal strip out to sea, the marine landscapes gradually change with a great variety of plants and animals, red, green and brown algae. Where the rocky substratum prevails, there are mainly sciaphilous species, which do not need much light, such as the red algae Jania rubensand the sea feather. The shoals, then, are extraordinarily rich in spectacular life forms. There is no shortage of extensive Posidonia oceanicameadows, a precious shelter and nursery for numerous species: sea urchins, starfish, ascidians, gastropods, crustaceans, seahorses and, among the fish, salema, scorpion fish, damselfish and wrasse.
The Scoglio del Vervece, just one kilometer outside the small port of Marina della Lobra, falls within zone A of integral protection. In that stretch of sea, 12 meters deep, there is the famous statue of the Madonnina. The submerged rock walls are covered with Parazoanthus, white and orange gorgonians. At 35 metres, the so-called “viale delle gorgonie” is a sandy substrate flanked by high walls covered by Eunicelle,Spirographs and pink Anthias. The deepest walls, up to 50 metres, are populated by forests of Paramuricea clavata and, even deeper, orange sponges and branches of gorgonians have settled on which the Gerardia savaglia proliferates.
Another zone A is around the Islet of Vetara. There the deep fifty meters bottom and the submerged walls are covered with coralligenous. Less than a hundred meters from the islet there is a shoal similar to an atoll, frequented by Labridi, Castagnole, Mennole and Boghe. Of particular importance, within the area of maximum protection, is the presence of the now very rare Pinna nobilis.
Punta Campanella and the Scoglio a Penna, which closes the magnificent bay of Ieranto, are included in zone B, where the meeting of the currents of the gulfs of Naples and Salerno produces a great wealth of nutrients that attracts various migratory fish species (small tuna, bonitoand amberjack). These waters are ideal for guided dives, which also offer a visit to the Roman structures submerged under Punta Campanella.
In zone C we note the splendid Grotta dello Zaffiro, which being at a shallow depth is also suitable for free diving, and in Mitigliani the Grotta delle Corvine, so called due to the considerable quantity of those fish.
THE BAY OF IERANTO
Among the various bays that open along the coastal stretch of the protected area, the Bay of Ieranto stands out for its important particularities, 63 hectares of blue enchantment set between the Torre della Campanella to the west and the Torre di Montalto on Punta Penna to the east, which fall entirely within the territory of Massa Lubrense. To give it a peculiar conformation is, inside, the Punta Capitello, which distinguishes the Baia Grande from the Baia Piccola.
A large part of the bay and its coastal part, on the west side starting from Punta Campanella, belongs to Fai, the Italian Environmental Fund. It is precisely in that stretch that the coast is steep and rocky. It was to exploit the karst rock that from the early twentieth century to 1952 that area was affected by intense mining activity, now completely abandoned, but of which several structures remain.
Towards Punta Penna, on the other hand, the coastline is drawn by slopes that gently slope down towards the sea. The coastal landscape has the colors of the clear limestone of the dry stone walls that delimit the terraces and the silvery green of the olive groves.
Among the most suggestive points of the bay there is the clear sandy beach from which you can admire the Faraglioni of Capri.
At sea, the bay is no less rich in peculiarities, due to the confluence in that stretch of sea of the characteristic currents of the Gulf of Naples and those of the Gulf of Salerno, among which Ieranto is located. The complex play of those currents creates the phenomenon of "rising" or upwelling, the ascent of water from the deepest layers to the surface. This continuous movement, which also causes considerable temperature variations in the water column, puts large quantities of nutrients into circulation, thus favoring an extraordinary variety of marine, animal and plant species. Among the fish rarities are the renowned San Pietro fish and the owl fish or sea swallow. On the other hand, it is not uncommon to encounter the Caretta caretta sea turtles in those waters where, until the last century, the monk seal was also at home.
The Bay of Ieranto can be reached by boat or, by land, from the center of Nerano, thanks to a path that passes by the Pink House where the famous writer Norman Douglas began in 1911 the drafting of his famous “Siren Land, The Land of Sirens”.
