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Oasis of Casale is located in the Municipality of Vicenza and it has been acknowledged as a Site of Community Importance (SIC IT3220005), as well as a Special Protection Area (SPA IT3220005).
This 60-acre area preserves what’s left of the wetlands which used to be much bigger in this place.

Established in 1998, it is now managed by the WWF in collaboration with the Municipality of Vicenza. These ponds, once massively excavated for clay sediments, were subsequently repopulated with the local flora and fauna. The presence of basins dug at different depths has favoured an interesting environmental diversification. In fact, today the area looks like a mosaic of surfaces perpetually flooded and devoid of vegetation, areas covered with marshy herbaceous vegetation (reeds in particular), hygrophilic forests of Salix spp. (willows), mesohygrophilic shrubs, uncultivated and ruderal meadows, as well as rural hedges.

Where the water is deeper, there’s vegetation mostly mostly featuring Pharagmites australis (marsh reed), and Typha, as well as marsh plants such as Iris pseudacorus (yellow iris), Alisma plantago-aquatica (common water-plantain) and Lycopus europaeus (gypsywort). Around the ponds there are arboreal specimens of Salix alba, Salix cinerea, Salix purpurea, Populus nigra, and Populus alba. In the drier areas, what remains of the wooded vegetation that once populated the entire plain includes: Quercus robur (English oaks), Acer campestre (field maple), Ulmus minor (elm) and other tree species in association with Cornus sanguinea shrubs (dogwood), Sambucus nigra (elders), Viburnum opulus (guelder-roses), and Rosa arvensis (field roses).

The fauna includes rare species such as Panurus blarmicus (bearded reedlings), Emberiza schoeniclus (reed buntings), Ixobrychus minutus (little bitterns), Botaurus stellaris (Eurasian bitterns), Acrocephalus scirpaceus (reed warblers), and Remiz pendulinus (penduline tits).
Among the interesting avifaunistic species, however, we can find the Dendrocopos major (great spotted woodpecker), and the Picus viridis (green woodpecker).

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)