By Francesca Politi - JUMP Team
Nature is one of the fundamental features of Calabria and has always played a central role in its identity. In this context, natural parks are of great importance for the defense and preservation of Calabria’s natural heritage.
This is the case of Catanzaro’s Mediterranean Biodiversity Park, an urban renewal project, which represents a unique green lung designed and built for biodiversity enhancement. But there’s more: this place transports you to a multi-thematic dimension that fosters dialogue and encounters between culture, art and history in an ecosystem in which many floristic and faunistic varieties coexist.
From a botanical point of view, the area contains the most important local varieties of the Mediterranean flora, while from a faunistic point of view, various forms of animal life representative of Mediterranean fauna and, in some cases, of Calabrian ornithological distinctiveness. Eagle owls, buzzards, brown kites and various types of hawks populate the area along with barn owls, turtle doves and pheasants.
Furthermore, this place hosts an important collection of contemporary works of art that make up the parallel International Sculpture Park, one of the most important public art institutions in Italy. Created in 2005, the collection consists of twenty-two works by leading artists on the contemporary scene- Daniel Buren, Stephan Balkenhol, Tony Cragg, Wim Delvoye, Jan Fabre, Antony Gormley, Mimmo Paladino, Marc Quinn, Dennis Oppenheim, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Mauro Staccioli.
An integrated model between art and nature that has been able to radically transform an area. Welcome to the Mediterranean Biodiversity Park in Catanzaro, a true pride of Calabria!
Sources:
https://www.provincia.catanzaro.it/parco/index.php
