Natural inlet on the Riviera del Corallo, Sardinia
The bay of Porto Conte (Sardinian:Portu Conte, Catalan:Port del Comte) is a natural inlet on the Riviera del Corallo, a locality on the northwest coast of Sardinia, in the sea of the same name, protected following the establishment of the Porto Conte Regional Nature Park. It is enclosed between the karst promontories of Capo Caccia and Punta Giglio and faces the Alghero roadstead; it is about 20km from Alghero itself. It measures from the mouth to the bottom 6km, with a width of about 2.5km. The coastal part consists of small inlets, cliffs, and the long sandy beach of Mugoni pine forest.
Known in Roman times as Nimpharum Portus, or port of the nymphs, it is one of the largest natural harbors in the Mediterranean, sheltered from northwest winds. For this reason it has always been of great strategic importance in past centuries.
The earliest evidence of human presence in the area dates back to the Neolithic period, with finds dated to the sixth millennium B.C. at the Green Cave. There are also numerous evidences from the Nuragic period at the localities of Palmavera and Sant'Imbenia. In the latter locality the remains of a Roman villa have been found.[1]
Since 1999 the place has been under naturalistic protection in the land area with the Porto Conte regional park and since 1983 in the marine part with the Capo Caccia - Isola Piana natural marine protected area. It has a relevant importance in terms of nature and tourism, so much so that many tourist, sporting and scientific activities are practiced there, such as: scuba diving, caving, trekking, climbing, botany, bird watching, archaeology, research, enology, nature photography. There are also some specimens of white donkey imported from Asinara housed in the regional park to help preserve the breed.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, spent the last two months of his life in Porto Conte in a villa located upstream from the Torre Nuova,[1] from May to July 1944, before the tragic epilogue with the crash of his plane.
Territory
The morphology of the territory is quite varied. The coastal area between Capo Caccia and Punta Giglio is characterized by large stretches of cliffs alternating with less steep portions. The immediate hinterland, on the other hand, is characterized by low hills alternating with plains.[2] For naturalistic reasons, the Calich pond has been included, despite its considerable distance from the Porto Conte area, which is connected to the sea by an artificial canal built in the late 1930s during the reclamation works carried out in the region. It represents an important ecosystem for the variety of animal and plant life it hosts.[3]
Geologically, the area is characterized by limestone rocks from which, due to the effect of water, numerous karst caves have originated. Among the highest elevations in the park are Punta Cristallo,[2] with its 326 meters above sea level, and Mount Doglia, which reaches 442 meters.[4]
Climate
In the Porto Conte area, as in almost the entire territory of Sardinia, the climate, according to Köppen's climate classification, is Mediterranean. It is characterized by mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The average annual temperature is between 16 and 17°C while precipitation is around 600 millimeters per year. The dominant winds are the mistral and the libeccio.
Flora
Centaurea horrida and Astragalus terracianoi on Piana Island
The plant formations present in the protected area consist of holly, Mediterranean scrub, garrigue and conifer reforestations. The latter owe their existence to the Porto Conte - Prigionette forest site, managed by the Forestas agency, enclosed between the north coast of the gulf and the sheer cliffs of Torre Pegna, Punta Cristallo and Punta Gessiere. The most substantial areas of holm oak forest are found near punta Giglio.
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Alghero is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from Aleguerium, which is a mediaeval Latin word meaning "stagnation of algae".
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Quercus coccifera, the kermes oak, is an oak bush in the Ilex section of the genus. It has many synonyms, including Quercus calliprinos. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus and Turkey, crossing Spain, Italy, Libya, Balkans, and Greece, including Crete. The Kermes Oak was historically important as the food plant of Kermes scale insects, from which a red dye called crimson was obtained. The etymology of the specific name coccifera is related to the production of red cochineal (crimson) dye and derived from Latin coccum which was from Greek κόκκος, the kermes insect. The Latin -fera means 'bearer'.
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The Riviera del Corallo is a coastal stretch of north-west Sardinia in the south of the Nurra plain, which includes the town of Alghero. It is so called because of the great importance of the red coral that is fished in its waters and worked to make jewellery and ornaments since the days of ancient Rome.
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