|
 The
Iblean territory, bounded by the Channel of Sicily at south, and
by the provinces of Caltanissetta, Catania and Siracusa from west
to east, is composed of a mainly hilly area, almost wholly occupied
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 towns of Acate, Vittoria
and Comiso, and representing the main agricultural support for the
province.
The
territory, highly calcareous, has a rather dry and rocky aspect,
though able to offer, especially during 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 rivers Acate, Mazzarrone and Irminio.
 The
flora is mostly Mediterranean and it differentiates 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 interior side; it is mild and humid
in the littoral.
|
