The Circeo National Park

The Circeo National Park is located along the Thyrrenian shores of southern Lazio, at about 100 kilometres south of Rome on the coastal stretch between Anzio and Terracina and is entirely enclosed in the province of Latina (in the precincts of the municipalities of Latina, Sabaudia, San Felice Circeo and Ponza) at a total of about 8.500 hectares. Instituted in 1934, the Circeo National Park was born in order to preserve not just a single species but also a rich whole of biomes with a consequent extreme abundance of species. It is because of its institution, which took place precisely when the entire Pontine region was submitted to a radical operation of integral land drainage and creation of farms, that the complete clearing of the ancient and inhospitable “Selva di Terracina” was avoided: the small proportion saved from cutting came to create, together with the lake of Sabaudia, the costal dunes and the promontory of Circeo, the first configuration of the Park. Various proceedings followed, and the Circeo Park has gradually altered the quantity (with the variation of its boundaries) and the quality (with the institution of Natural Reserves and international recognitions for its enormous natural importance) of its territory, including the coastal  lakes of Monaci, Caprolace, Fogliano and the Zannone’ s Island.