Lake Varano

Lake Varano is a coastal sea-sourced brackish water lake, with a surface area of approximately 51 square kilometres, a width of 7 kilometres and a depth of about 5 metres: it is one of the largest lake basins in southern Italy. Rather than a lake, it is a lagoon, separated from the Adriatic Sea by a cordon of land covered with Aleppo pines, eucalyptus trees and Mediterranean scrub and crossed from time to time by paths leading to the fine sandy beach of Isola di Varano, a reserve since 1977. Beyond the summer period, it is a place of tranquillity and peace, easily accessible by bicycle, inhabited mostly by numerous species of migratory birds and abundant specific flora. Foxes, hares, hedgehogs and migratory birds, grey and white herons, flamingos, cranes and storks have their natural habitat here. On the eastern side of the lake is the sanctuary of the Holy Crucifix, on the edge of the countryside, linked to a miraculous wooden crucifix and its powers against drought.