This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Bosco Incoronata Regional Natural Park was established on May 15, 2006, and is located about 7.5 miles from Foggia, in the heart of “Tavoliere delle Puglie” (“Table of the Apulias”, a plain in northern Puglia covering nearly a half of the Capitanata traditional region).

The 2.500-acre protected area retains a small strip of natural vegetation within a deeply cultivated territory. The actual Regional Natural Park includes Bosco dell’Incoronata (790 acres) and a portion of “Valle del Cervaro – Bosco dell’Incoronata” which is soon due to be acknowledged as a Site of Community Importance (SIC).

In this area, there is the Sanctuary of “Madonna dell’Incoronata” (“Crowned Holy Mary”): according to the legend, it was built right in the very spot where the Holy Mary had once appeared. Throughout the centuries, the “Holy Wood” of an oak tree from the wood (now kept under the altar of the crypt inside the Sanctuary) has been venerated by St. Francis from Assisi and St. Anthony from Padua, Padre Pio from Pietralcina, and Pope John Paul II.

THE FLORA

The vegetation consists mainly of white poplars (Populus alba), field elms (Ulmus minor), and narrow-leafed ashes (Fraxinus oxycarpa).
The wood also hosts interesting nesting bird species and is part of an important migratory route.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)