Oasi WWF Guardiaregia Campochiaro

The Guardiaregia - Campochiaro Regional Nature Reserve is a protected natural area established in 1996 and extended in 2000. It occupies an area of 3135 hectares, thus representing the second largest Oasis in Italy. Management is established by an agreement between WWF Italy and the municipalities of Guardiaregia and Campochiaro. The Oasis is located within a Site of Community Importance (SCI), a Special Protection Area (SPA) and there are two priority habitats (i.e. at greater risk of extinction): "the forests of the Tilio-Acerion valleys" of the Quirino Torrent Gorges and "the beech woods with Taxus baccata and Ilex aquifolium" of Monte Mutria and the Campochiaro Mountain. The environment is mountainous and forested with spectacular karst phenomena, such as the canyon of the Quirino stream, the San Nicola waterfall (total drop of 100 m.) and the caves of Pozzo della Neve (depth - 1048 m.) and Cul di Bove (depth - 913 m.), which are among the deepest abysses in Europe.