Description
The nature reserve has a typical and very striking almost lunar appearance, with high hills and characteristic vegetation adapted to the marked aridity and the presence of stony soil, very poor in humus.
The origin of the 'marocche' is linked to glaciations.
In short, when a glacier flows through a valley like a great solid river, it also changes its shape, exerting enormous pressures against its sides and bottom. The flanks, in particular, feel these forces and thrusts, which then fail when the glacier retreats. It is then that the crushed and dislodged blocks of rock and the inclined strata laid bare by the glacier are no longer supported by the mass of ice, and therefore break away, collapsing into the valley floor.
In Trentino, phenomena of this kind can be found here, in the Sarca Valley, and then in the Adige Valley and in certain Alpine valleys (e.g. V. di Tovel).
The Marocche di Dro is the largest landslide not only in the entire Province of Trento, but also in the entire Alpine arc.
The landslide events that generated them were several and overlapped one another. The first can be dated 100,000 or 200,000 years ago, even in interglacial periods, while the last ones seem to have occurred in historical times and have also swept away human settlements.
In the Marocche di Drò, there are entire areas where only a few isolated plants grow among the boulders, others where shrub vegetation or thermophilous deciduous woodland develops.
There are also areas with black pine (Pinus nigra) reforestation: an obvious example of blatant human error and biological pollution.
In order to fully understand the vegetation characteristics of the Marocche di Dro, it should be pointed out that this area is set in a very particular valley context, in which Mediterranean-type botanical species wedge themselves into the pre-Alpine sector, taking advantage of the particular climatic conditions induced by Lake Garda. In short, the Marocche constitute a particularly interesting phytogeographical element not only by virtue of their particular structure and conformation, but also as a meeting point between the typical flora of the subalpine region and several decidedly Mediterranean entities.
The fauna is also closely conditioned by the microclimatic characteristics of the area and the particular environment.
Reptiles are abundant, including the wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), lizard (Lacerta viridis), green lizard (Coluber viridiflavus) and the longnose lizard (Elaphe longissima), as well as birds associated with brush and shrubs. Other faunal groups are poorly represented.
Visiting facilities
- Visiting path
Publications
- Small botanical guide to the biotope Marocche di Dro, January 2001 (online browsable version)
- Small botanical guide to the Marocche di Dro biotope, January 2001 (PDF version)
