The Monti dell’Uccellina constitute a hilly group along the coastal strip of the Grosseto Maremma which divides the Ombrone plain to the north from the Albegna river plain to the south, in the territories of the municipalities of Grosseto, Magliano in Toscana and Orbetello.
The group of hills, which reaches 417 meters a.s.l. on the top of Poggio Lecci, it extends into the municipal areas of Grosseto, Magliano in Toscana and Orbetello, rising a few kilometers south of the mouth of the Ombrone, near the locality of Alberese, and sloping down to the southern end near Talamone, where they delimit the western end of the Gulf of Talamone.
The whole area of the Monti dell’Uccellina is included within the Maremma Natural Park; the coast is high and rocky, with the exception of the suggestive Cala di Forno which opens up to the mistral winds.
In the area, the numerous watchtowers and the Abbey of San Rabano are of considerable importance from the historical-artistic point of view, which appears in the form of imposing ruins on the hill ridge. >
Noteworthy are also the coastal watchtowers, such as the Castel Marino Tower, the Collelungo Tower, the Uccellina Tower, the Cala di Forno Tower, the Poggio Raso Tower, the Torre delle Cannelle and the Tower of Capo d’Uomo; on the slopes of the side opposite the sea, the Torre Bassa and the Torre della Bella Marsilia stand out.
Coasts and headlands
The northern offshoots of the Monti dell’Uccellina begin to rise behind the Granducale Pinewood, with the Scoglietto which constitutes the first modest relief, albeit characterized by steep rocky walls.
Proceeding south, the hills called Salto del Granduca and Poggio Alto still rise in the hinterland behind the pine forest, among which we find a series of infracts, the Caves of the Fabbrica, under the first offshoots, where remains of prehistoric times have come to light.
The south-western offshoots of Poggio Alto gradually approach the coast, even though they stop between the reclamation canal and the Collelungo beach: they are the Poggio di Castel Marino, where the tower of the same name rises, and the Poggio di Collelungo, where the the Tower of Collelungo. This last hill, albeit modest, marks the eastern limit of the Collelungo beach, whose beach continues without interruption in Cala Francese and Cala Rossa, behind which the hillsides rise abruptly, up to 417 meters above sea level. of Poggio Lecci.
The long beach, without solution of continuity from Bocca d’Ombrone, ends with the southern slopes of Poggio Uccellina (which gives its name to the entire coastal hilly system) and with the owest of Poggio Pian di Betto, which form a high and rocky coastal stretch, which slopes down to the eastern shore of the sandy and suggestive Cala di Forno, in turn closed to the south by western slopes of Poggio Ghiacciale.
From Poggio Ghiacciale begins a long high and rocky coastal stretch, with some small coves such as that of Porticciolo, which opens south-east of Poggio Torrino. Further south, L’Aiole and Poggio Tondo enclose the tip and Cala del Gabbiano, dominated to the south by the Torre delle Cannelle which rises on an offshoot between Poggio Tondo and Poggione.
Further south, the promontories are formed by the sloping western slopes of Punta del Corvo and Capo d’Uomo, where the homonymous tower stands. The southern slopes of the aforementioned hillock and that of Fontelunga slope down respectively towards Talamone and its gulf, of which they constitute the north-western limits.
The protected area
The Uccellina Mountains are a protected natural area. There is a site of regional interest, entirely included in the Maremma Natural Park. They are also recognized as a site of community importance (pSIC) and a special protection area (SPA), due to their remarkable naturalistic, historical and landscape value.
The main critical elements inside the site are:
• Excessive density of fallow deer and wild boar.
•Abandonment of cultivation practices and reduction of grazing in part of the olive groves, with progressive closure of the annual grasslands, of great conservation value (characterized by a very high wealth of plant species and of considerable faunal importance).
•Locally high tourist use, in the summer months.
The main critical elements external to the site are:
•Agricultural areas on the borders.
•Urbanized areas on the southern borders.
The main objectives Conservation measures to be adopted are:
•Conservation of the high levels of naturalness and continuity of the holm oak and Mediterranean maquis matrix, favoring the presence of more mature formations, in suitable stations, and the maintenance of a good heterogeneity of wooded and high shrubby stands (EE).
• Conservation and, where necessary (abandoned olive groves), recovery of annual meadows and garrigue (priority habitats, of great importance for flora, reptiles, birds), possibly through the continuation of traditional forms of land use, which guarantee the maintenance of good levels of environmental heterogeneity (EE).
•Conservation of endemic, rare and endangered (EE) animal and plant species.
•Preservation of the high levels of quality and low disturbance of the rocky coasts (E).
Indications for conservation measures are:
•Forest management aimed at achieving objectives 1. and 2. (EE).
•Management or contractual measures for the protection and recovery of open environments, favoring in particular the traditional forms of management of olive groves (EE).
•Periodic monitoring of elements of greater fragility and conservation value and identification of any necessary measures for their protection (E).
•Control of fallow deer and wild boar populations (E).
Geomorphology
The prevailing environmental typology is the coastal hilly relief, largely covered by holm oak woods and Mediterranean scrub, with rocky coasts. Other relevant environmental typologies are the annual grasslands and garrigues, rocky outcrops and partly abandoned olive groves, sandy coasts.
Fauna
Presence of very rare mammals linked to maquis and woodland environments and numerous rare and endangered bird species linked above all to rock environments and garrigue. Among them, the wildcat (Felis silvestris) and the eurial rhinolophus (Rhinolophus euryale), a bat.
Among the reptiles: Hermann’s tortoise (Testudo hermanni); the terrapin (Emys orbicularis), present with very high densities in the channel that delimits the border between the site and the Granducale Pinewood; the common sea turtle (Caretta caretta), with accidental presences; the cervone (Elaphe quatuorlineata).
Among the birds: the short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus), a nester; the lanner (Falco biarmicus), occasionally nesting, wintering (perhaps regularly) at the edge of the site.
Presence of various taxa of endemic invertebrates in Italy, exclusive or with restricted distribution; presence of Callimorpha quadripuncataria, a moth.
Flora
The protected area is characterized by a high diversity of vegetation with the presence of characteristic aspects of the Grosseto Maremma (thermoxerophilous juniper woodlands, forests, scrub and garrigue). Presence of rare and endemic species.
As regards the phytocoenosis, there are coastal juniper groves on the limestone promontory of Cala di Forno (Maremma Natural Park). Among the plant species we note the Romulea revelieri, a typical species of Corsica and Sardinia, recently identified in the Maremma Park, the Centaurea aplolepa ssp. cosana, a Maremma endemism, and floristic populations characteristic of the rocky coasts.