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 The
Iblean territory, bounded by the Channel of Sicily at south, and,
from west to east, by the provinces of Caltanissetta, Catania and
Siracusa, is composed of a mainly hilly area, almost entirely covered
by the Iblean Mountains, where the highest peak, the Monte Lauro,
reaches 986 meters in height.
 Yet,
level zones are located in the northern area, corresponding to the
valley of the Ippari river, comprising the cities of Acate, Vittoria
and Comiso, which represents the major agricultural support of the
province.
The
territory, highly calcareous, has a rather dry and rocky aspect,
though able to offer, especially during the spring, amazing and
coloured images of wildly and harsh beauty.
 The
country-side is rich of canyons, a characteristic of this territory,
where the river waters, scarcely absorbed by the calcareous and
impermeable ground, have dug deeper and wider furrows.
 An
important resource of water has been provided through the realization
of dams along the course of the Acate, Mazzarrone and Irminio rivers.
The flora is mostly Mediterranean and it varies with the altitude.
There are oaks and plane-trees in the mountains; oleanders, fig-trees,
acanthus, capers, reeds and, above all, carob-trees in the other
areas.
 The
fauna, because of an intense activity of deforestation in the past
centuries, is not very rich: wild rabbits, weasels and winged animals
especially in the mountains, and also rare birds like the pink flamingo,
the soon-bill and the osprey in the marshy lands (in the proximity
of the dams) and several species of sea-gulls, obviously, along
the coast. The Mediterranean climate varies with cold winters and
hot and dry summers in the mountains and in the in-land; mild and
humid is the littoral.
PHOTOGRAPHIC TOUR OF THE "IBLEI"
photo
by Giuseppe Iacono
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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