Parco Nazionale del Circeo cronologia storica

Ultimo aggiornamento il 9 ottobre 2026

Valuta

Il Circeo è nato nel mezzo dell'operazione a cui doveva sopravvivere. Le Paludi Pontine venivano bonificate; il parco è il pezzo che deliberatamente non si bonificò. Tutto il resto è stato un lento aggiungere tutele a quel frammento originario, e uno scoprire quanto sia antica la presenza umana al suo interno.

Cronologia

Preistoria Le grotte ai piedi del promontorio sono occupate fin dal Paleolitico e conservano la traccia delle variazioni climatiche e delle oscillazioni del livello del mare.
1934 Il parco è istituito dall'Amministrazione Forestale del tempo, per volere di Benito Mussolini e su suggerimento del senatore Raffaele Bastianelli, per tutelare gli ultimi resti delle Paludi Pontine allora in bonifica. È l'unico parco nazionale italiano composto solo di pianura e costa.
1939 Nella grotta Guattari, alla base del promontorio, è rinvenuto un cranio di tipo neanderthaliano.
1941 Natale Prampolini, senatore e ingegnere che progettò la bonifica dell'Agro Pontino, è insignito da Vittorio Emanuele III del titolo di conte del Circeo.
1953 I daini sono introdotti per il ripopolamento venatorio dall'ex Azienda di Stato delle Foreste Demaniali e tenuti in un recinto di 400 ettari. Fuggono, e i loro discendenti arrivano a occupare l'intera foresta: senza predatori, ne danneggiano il rinnovamento.
1976 Le zone umide del Circeo sono dichiarate Zona Umida di Interesse Internazionale.
1977 La foresta è dichiarata riserva della biosfera ed entra nel programma UNESCO Man and Biosphere. Il parco è stato in seguito candidato al titolo di patrimonio dell'umanità.
1979 L'isola di Zannone entra a far parte del parco.
1991 La legge quadro sulle aree protette (L. 394/1991) prevede un ente parco, ma per quattordici anni non se ne fa nulla. Nel frattempo il parco è retto da un commissario straordinario, il gen. Salvatore Armando Bellassai, già sindaco di Sabaudia, e da un direttore facente funzioni.
2005 Il DPR 155/2005 avvia finalmente l'istituzione dell'Ente Parco.
2007 L'iter si conclude con la nomina del Presidente e del Consiglio Direttivo. Gaetano Benedetto è primo Presidente dal 2007 al 2018; Giuliano Tallone primo direttore, 2008-2013.
2025 Viene annunciata al Riparo Blanc la scoperta della più antica necropoli del Lazio e di una delle più antiche conosciute, datata tra il 9.300 e il 7.500 a.C.

Verificato su Wikipedia, ottobre 2026.

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Wikipedia

Fonti e verifica Riguarda le affermazioni documentate di questa pagina.

Verificato su Wikipedia — The Circeo park was established in 1934 by the forestry administration of the time at the wish of Benito Mussolini, on the suggestion of Senator Raffaele Bastianelli, in order to protect the last remains of the Pontine Marshes which were being reclaimed in exactly those years, and Natale Prampolini, the senator and engineer who designed the reclamation of the Agro Pontino, was rewarded by Vittorio Emanuele III with the title of Count of Circeo in 1941, The Circeo national park is a national park established in 1934, one of the oldest protected natural areas in Italy, located along the Tyrrhenian coast of historic Lazio between Anzio and Terracina, covering an area of 8,917 hectares and taking its name from the promontory of the same name, and it is managed by the Ente Parco Nazionale del Circeo as part of the national system of Italian protected areas, Among the numerous coastal caves of naturalistic interest at the Circeo promontory are the Grotta Guattari, where in 1939 a skull of Homo neanderthalensis was found, the Goats Cave, the Impiso Cave, the Grotta del Fossellone and the Grotta Breuil, the latter also inhabited by Neanderthal Man, The fallow deer, introduced into the Circeo park in 1953 as part of game-restocking breeding programmes carried out by the former Azienda di Stato delle Foreste Demaniali and kept inside a large enclosure of 400 hectares, escaped from captivity and gave rise to the population that currently occupies the entire forest, with varying densities and not without damaging the renewal of the forest heritage, given the imbalance deriving from the lack of predators; the forest was declared a biosphere reserve in 1977 and included in the MAB programme, Birds at the Circeo are very numerous and can easily be observed at the Pantani dell'Inferno area, facing the Lago di Caprolace, where the presence of the brackish waters of the lake and the fresh waters of the marshes favours the stopping of different species; in the brackish waters of the lakes fishing activities are practised with systems compatible with conservation requirements, guaranteeing respect for the environment, employment and the maintenance of traditional activities, and besides the four coastal lakes there are marshy areas and pastures used mainly for raising buffalo in a semi-wild state, where cattle egrets, cranes, geese, lapwings, skylarks and curlews are found; given the importance of the Circeo wetlands, in 1976 they were declared a Wetland of International Importance, The Circeo national park has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1977 and has been a candidate for the title of world heritage site, Zannone is a small island that became part of the Circeo park in 1979; it is uninhabited and covered with woods of holm oaks and oaks, and among the Pontine islands it is the only one to have kept its vegetation cover intact, offering interest in every season from the spectacular heather blooms of autumn to the thousands of birds that stop there during migration; its flora runs from helichrysum on the cliff through mastic, myrtle and erica, then broom, phillyrea and tree spurge giving way to strawberry tree and holm oak, with holm oak woods, heathers and laurels to the north, while among the wild animals is the mouflon, introduced on the island in the 1920s and now a protected species, Although already provided for by the framework law on protected areas L. 394/1991, it was only in 2005 that DPR 155/2005 began the establishment of the Ente Parco, a process concluded in 2007 with the appointment of the President and the Governing Council, the first President from 2007 until 2018 being Gaetano Benedetto and the first director Giuliano Tallone from 2008 to 2013, while before 2007 the Park had been run by an extraordinary commissioner, Gen. Salvatore Armando Bellassai, formerly mayor of Sabaudia, In 2025 the discovery was announced at Riparo Blanc of the oldest necropolis in Lazio and one of the oldest known, dated between 9,300 and 7,500 B.C., The Circeo promontory is an area of notable speleological interest since numerous caves open at its base which have kept the record of climatic variations and sea-level oscillations in past geological eras and have yielded evidence of very ancient human occupation from the Palaeolithic onwards, the best known being the Grotta Guattari where a Neanderthal-type skull was found in 1939, with the Grotta delle Capre easily reached by land near the Grotta dell'Impiso and the Grotta del Fossellone, the archaeologically interesting Grotta Breuil, and others including the Grotta Azzurra famous for its colour reflections, the Grotta del Presepe named for stalagmite flows that seen from the sea resemble kneeling figures, the "Cinque grotte" or "Cattedrale" named for a shape recalling Gothic cathedrals full of spires, the Grotta Barbara and the Grotta della Maga Circe, which legend says Circe pointed out to Odysseus so that he could shelter his boat there (ottobre 2026).

Parco Nazionale del Circeo cronologia storica

Cronologia

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