Gargano () is a historical and geographical sub-region in the

province of Foggia The province of Foggia (, ; Neapolitan language, Foggiano: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Regions of Italy, Italian region Apulia. This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygians, Iapygian pre-Roman tribe livi ...

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

, southeast

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of a

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

projecting into the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

, the "spur" on the Italian "boot".

Monte Calvo

The high point is Monte Calvo at . Most of the upland area, about , 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 of the ancient oak and

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

forest that once covered much of Central Europe as well as the Apennine deciduous montane forests

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

. The Latin poet

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

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.

Tourism

The coast of Gargano houses numerous beaches and tourist facilities, including resorts such as

Vieste Vieste (; ) is a town, ''comune'' and former Catholic bishopric in the province of Foggia, in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. A marine resort in Gargano, Vieste has received Blue Flags for the purity of its waters from the Foundation fo ...

, Peschici and Mattinata. The two major

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

s of Lesina and Varano are located in the northern part of the peninsula. Gargano is the site of the oldest shrine in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

dedicated to the

archangel Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second ...

, Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano. Other tourist attractions include San Giovanni Rotondo, the Abbey of Santa Maria of Ripalta (Lesina) and the volcanic rocks, dating back to the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

Period, known as "Black Stones" in Lesina, as well as the Sanctuary of San Nazario.

Annual events

* St Primiano and the saint sailing-race on 15 May * St Nazario and the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary with the same name on July 28 * St Rocco's Day on 15, 16 and 17 August in Rignano Garganico *Procession of the
Fracchie
' on

Good Friday Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during ...

in San Marco in Lamis * Saint Valentine's day in Vico del Gargano *Pilgrimages (
cumpagnie
') to the shrine of San Michele Arcangelo in Monte Sant'Angelo on May 8 and September 29 *Gargano Running Week is held in October, the first time in 2014 and includes

trail running Trail running is a type of running that takes place on outdoor trails, often in mountainous terrain, and often includes significant ascents and descents. It is similar to both mountain running, mountain and fell running (also known as hill r ...

, skyrunning, jogging, ultra distance running and speed running. The 10 K and the half marathon are supervised by FIDAL.

Gargano Peninsula fossils

Some 12 to 4 million years ago, during the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

Early Pliocene Early may refer to: Places in the United States * Early, Iowa, a city * Early, Texas, a city * Early Branch, a stream in Missouri * Early County, Georgia * Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort Music * Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...

, a highly

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

evolved Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

on what was then Gargano Island due to higher

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

s than today. Several of these animals were subject to island gigantism. Puglia MonteSAngelo1 tango7174

The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s are found in partially infilled paleokarst fissures across Monte Gargano. The Gargano Island fauna is known as '' Mikrotia'' fauna after an endemic

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of the area. Initially named ''Microtia'', this had to be corrected, because the genus name '' Microtia'' was already used for

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

. The surface features of the ancient

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

developed in

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. In these,

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

accumulated together with the remains of the local fauna, forming thick layers of reddish, massive or crudely stratified

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

s, known as ''terrae rossae'' ("red

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

s"). Through the mid-

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

movement of the

Apulian Plate The Adriatic or Apulian plate is a small list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate carrying primarily continental crust that broke away from the African plate along a large transform fault in the Cretaceous period. The name Adriatic plate is usu ...

. Others were overlaid by other sediments of terrestrial or

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

origin. In this way a buried, partially reworked paleokarst originated. Later, as the

ice ages An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and Gre ...

cycle got underway, sea levels sank and the former island was continentalized. In the cool and semiarid conditions of the

Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...

(some 1.8–0.8 mya) a second karstic cycle occurred, producing the neokarst which removed part of the paleokarst fill.

Fauna

The Gargano Island endemic

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s included: * '' Deinogalerix'' - 5 species of gymnures ("hairy hedgehogs"), among them the giant ''D. koenigswaldi'' with a skull of c.20 cm length. (Freudenthal, 1972; Butler, 1980) * '' Hoplitomeryx'' - some 5 species of "prongdeer" with five horns and sabre-like upper canine teeth. They ranged from tiny to the size of a

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

, and large and small ones apparently occurred at the same time rather than one evolving from the other. (Leinders 1984, van der Geer 2005, van der Geer 2008) * ''Mikrotia'' - 3 or more species of

murine The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...

rodent. The largest species, ''M. magna'', had a skull 10 cm long. (Freudenthal, 1976, Parra ''et al.'', 1999) * ''Paralutra garganensis'' - an endemic species of

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

. (Willemsen, 1983) * '' Prolagus imperialis'' and ''P. apricenicus'' - huge endemic

pika A pika ( , or ) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal native to Asia and North America. With short limbs, a very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative the rabbit, but with short, rounded ears. ...

species- ''P. imperialis'' was larger than any other known ''Prolagus''.(Mazza, 1987) * ''Stertomys'' - 5 species of dormouse, among them the giant ''S. laticrestatus'' (Daams and Freudenthal, 1985) and four smaller species (Freudenthal and Martín-Suárez, 2006) * ''Hattomys'' - 3 species of giant hamsters, among them the giant ''H. gargantua''. (Freudenthal, 1985) Non-endemic mammals found on the island included: * ''

Apodemus ''Apodemus'' is a genus of Muridae, murid (true mice and rats) containing the field mice as well as other well-known species like the wood mouse and the yellow-necked mouse. The name is unrelated to that of the ''Mus (genus), Mus'' genus, instead ...

gorafensis'' - a field mouse * A prehistoric species of '' Cricetus''

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian ...

(Freudenthal, 1985) * ''Megacricetodon'' - another hamster (Freudenthal, 1985) Bird species occurring at Gargano included (studied by Ballmann, 1973, 1976): * '' Apus wetmorei'', a

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

. * ''

Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

omnisanctorum'' - one of the oldest

pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

fossils known. It probably was more widespread and if so, the older name ''C. pisana'' would likely apply to it. * ''Garganoaetus freudenthali'' and ''Garganoaetus murivorus'' - two species of falconid, the former larger than a

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...

, the latter well-sized; endemic. The smaller species, which likely is the stratigraphically oldest, is closely related to ''Aquila delphinensis'' from La Grive-Saint-Alban, France, according to Peter Ballmann in 1973. Its closest living relatives are the small eagles (''

Hieraaetus The genus ''Hieraaetus'', sometimes known as small eagles or hawk-eagles, denotes a group of smallish eagles usually placed in the accipitrid subfamilies Buteoninae or Aquilinae. They are generally medium-sized birds of prey inhabiting Europ ...

'', '' Spizaetus'', '' Lophaetus''). * '' Garganornis ballmanni'', an extinct flightless giant goose-like waterfowl * ''"Strix" perpasta'' - a

true owl The true owls or typical owls (family (biology), family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls and bay owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species ...

, perhaps the same as the widespread ''Bubo zeylonensis lamarmorae'', a

paleosubspecies A chronospecies is a species derived from a sequential development pattern that involves continual and uniform changes from an extinct ancestral form on an evolutionary scale. The sequence of alterations eventually produces a population that is p ...

of the brown fish-owl (Mlíkovský 2002) but this

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

was usually known from later times. * ''

Tyto ''Tyto'' is a genus of owls in the family Tytonidae. Depending on the species and the locality, common names include barn owl, common barn owl, grass owl, sooty owl, masked owl, field owl or simply owl. It is the most widely distributed genus o ...

'' - 2 or 3 species of barn-owls. The largest, '' T. gigantea'', was up to twice as massive as the living eagle-owl '' Bubo bubo''. '' T. robusta'' was also large; this species and the former were endemic but actually seem to have been chronosubspecies. The supposed remains of the smaller ''T. sanctialbani'' found at Gargano are now placed in the widespread ''Tyto balearica''. * an indeterminate woodpecker.

Languages

According to Pellegrini, Gargano is home t
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).

References

Sources

* Butler, M., 1980. The giant erinaceid insectivore, Deinogalerix Freudenthal, from the upper Miocene of Gargano, Italy. Scripta Geologica 57, 1-72. * Daams, R., Freudenthal, M. (1985): "''Stertomys laticrestatus'', a new glirid (dormice, Rodentia) from the insular fauna of Gargano (Prov. of Foggia, Italy)." '' Scripta Geologica'' 77: 21–27

(includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M. (1972): "''Deinogalerix koenigswaldi'' nov. gen., nov. spec., a giant insectivore from the Neogene of Italy." '' Scripta Geologica'' 14: 1-1

includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M. (1976): "Rodent stratigraphy of some Miocene fissure fillings in Gargano (prov. Foggia, Italy)". '' Scripta Geologica'' 37: 1-2

(includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M. (1985) "Cricetidae (Rodentia) from the Neogene of Gargano (Prov. of Foggia, Italy)". '' Scripta Geologica'' 77: 29-76

(includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M., Martín-Suárez, E. (2006): "Gliridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene Fissure Filling Biancone 1 (Gargano, Province of Foggia, Italy)." ''Palaeontologia Electronica'' 9.2.6A: 1-23. * Leinders, J.J.M. (1984): "Hoplitomerycidae fam. nov. (Ruminantia, Mammalia) from Neogene fissure fillings in Gargano (Italy); part 1: The cranial osteology of Hoplitomeryx gen. nov. and a discussion on the classification of pecoran families". '' Scripta Geologica'' 70: 1-51, 9 plates. * * Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): ''Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe'': 215. Ninox Press, Prague. PDF fulltext
!-- This should be treated with extreme caution as regards merging of species. Splits are usually good though. See also critical review in Auk121:623-627 here http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879 --> * Parra, V.; Loreau, M. & Jaeger, J.-J. (1999): "Incisor size and community structure in rodents: two tests of the role of competition". ''Acta Oecologica'' 20(2): 93-101. (HTML abstract) * * * (includes full text PDF)

External links

Official Tourism InformationPictures from the Gargano and Vieste
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gargano Peninsulas of Italy Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy Mountains of Apulia Former islands of Italy Peaks dedicated to Michael (archangel) Michael (archangel)