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WWF Oasis Forre di Corchiano, which includes the Forre di Corchiano Natural Monument, is located along the Rio Fratta, a tributary of the Tiber River.
It is rich with prehistoric and protohistoric caves, tombs and Faliscan quarries, a Roman bridge, a portion of the Via Amerina, ancient grindstones, Faliscan hydraulic works, and a hydroelectric plant which was closed down in the early 1960s – an interesting example of industrial archeology.

But natural beauty and, above all, different ecosystems are present as well: river, rock, forest and agricultural ones.
This has allowed the survival of a large animal community such as wild cats, porcupines, badgers, wild boars, foxes, dormice, weasels, martens and hares, buzzards, kestrels, sparrowhawks and common owls.

The local flora around gorges includes numberless evergreen oaks (Quercus ilex), manna ashes (Fraxinus ornus), Montpellier maples (Acer monspessulanum), and European nettle trees (Celtis australis). Among the shrubs, there are tree heathers (Erica arborea), Mediterranean buckthorns (Rhamnus alaternus), strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo), Spanish brooms (Spartium junceum ), and some varieties of rockroses (Cistus spp).

In the valley, namely in the mixed mesophilic woods, there are common hornbeams (Carpinus betulus), European hop-hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia), common hazels (Corylus avellana), common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), European ivy (Hedera helix), and old man’s beards (Clematis vitalba).

Along minor slopes, we can find Turkey oaks (Quercus cerris), common hazels, field maples (Acer campestre), common brooms (Cytisus scoparius), eagle ferns (Pteridium aquilinum), and butcher’s brooms (Ruscus aculeatus).

Further downstream, along the river, the hygrophilous riparian vegetation has developed with common alders (Alnus glutinosa), white willows (Salix alba), black poplars (Populus nigra), field elms (Ulmus minor), and silver poplars (Populus alba). In the shrubs, we can also find black elders (Sambucus nigra), il European cornels, and brambles (Rubus spp); then, there are common nettles (Urtica dioica), ribwort plantains (Plantago lanceolata), and many different species of ferns like male ferns (Dryopteris filixmas), hart’s-tongue ferns (Phyllitis scolopendrium), common horsetails (Equisetum arvense), Southern maidenhair ferns (Adiantum capillus-veneris), and maidenhair spleenworts (Asplenium trichomanes).

Where the river widens, and the waters become calmer, there are strips of halophytic vegetation (with a submerged root system and an emerged reproductive system) featuring sago pondweeds (Potamogeton pectinatus), and common duckweeds (Lemna minor).

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)