Today I'm talking about an environmental redevelopment project that took place in my city, Trani - Puglia. It is the wetland of Ariscianne (Barletta) and Boccadoro (Trani), called such as it is a generous source of spring water, clear and fresh, and although it is said, the gold of the Earth is water, not that yellow material sold for thousands of dollars per kilo.
The area constitutes an important environmental site for the rest and refreshment of important migratory flows of various volatile species, including kingfishers, gazettes, gray herons, kestrels. It has also become the home of some mammals such as foxes. It is a swampy area, ideal environment for several amphibians such as the frog, the common toad and the emerald toad and their enemy reptile coluber.
In the area, however, pink flamingos were also spotted, relaxing before resuming the flight towards warmer temperatures. The flora is very rich in particular of some marsh plants such as duckweed, under which amphibians often doze, and arundo donax, which form reeds along the spring waters but also in the center of the large tank, becoming the home of many birds, including some duck.
There are cartographic references of the marshy area as early as 1613, in which the Ariscianne lake is reported, close to the coast, not yet eroded by the sea. The swampy areas, however, were the heart of various diseases afflicting the nearby people and this is why a reclamation of the area began in the nineteenth century, in conjunction with the sea, which began to flood the coastal area and led to extinction of the Ariscianne lake. The large central basin represents an aqueduct project that was supposed to bring the water from the Boccadoro springs to the citizens of Trento.
The works for the construction of the tank began on September 21, 1825 and ended a year later, in September 1826. However, the work was not exploited for its purpose as it was ascertained that in reality the water contained a high level of salts and therefore not drinkable, but it was still used for irrigating the fields, making the area particularly flourishing.
The Boccadoro area in the past was a port for ancient boats. The traces of the docks and the remains of the ships have been buried by the sea and the sand but it is not uncommon to find finds by some lucky divers.
However, the Boccadoro area has seen decades of decay and abandonment, as urban and commercial development had taken hold in the city since the second half of the twentieth century. The farmers, therefore, eager to improve their economic position, had decided to move to the city for job opportunities, starting the phase of abandonment of the countryside.
In recent years, thanks to regional and European funds, the administration has started a work of recovery of the entire area by completing the first step, namely the reclamation of the entire area, and in the future there is a cycle path that from the city of Trani will allow the site to be reached more easily, ecologically and with a breathtaking coastal panorama.