Orchids of Gargano & Sassano
- May 10, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 31, 2025
25th April - 5th May 2024
Gargano & Sassano are two of the finest orchid locations in Italy, if not the whole of Europe. The Gargano Peninsula lies on the east coast of Italy and until as recently as 100 million years ago was separated from the mainland. Sassano lies to the south of Naples and is home to a 13 Km long area known as the ‘Valley of the Orchids’. Looking for orchids is always something of a compromise in terms of timing but the end of April and beginning of May seemed like an excellent period to visit both sites.
Thursday 25th April: We flew from Manchester to Naples then encountered a highly frustrating attempt sort out our car hire which took just under 3 hours of waiting in line! Driving in Naples is not for the faint hearted either but after a further hour we were on our way to the AirBnB near to Monte Sant Angelo on the Gargano Peninsula.
Friday 26th April: We decided to spend the first day at the monastery at Monte Pulsano. This is a well-known and extensive site with plenty of terrain to explore. We immediately found large numbers of Long-lipped Tongued Orchid and a few pristine looking Ophrys apulica and Late Spider Orchids together with a Giant Orchid which had finished flowering.
Long-lipped tongued-orchid Ophrys apulica Late Spider Orchid
Further down the road we climbed up onto the side of the bank and found a plethora of different orchids including Man Orchid, Naked Man Orchid, Green-winged Orchid, Four-spotted Orchid, Three-toothed Orchid, Pink Butterfly Orchid, Pyramidal Orchid and a single Burnt Orchid. We also saw more Ophrys orchids, namely Ophrys lutea (Yellow Bee Orchid), Ophrys sicula, Ophrys bertoloniiformis and Ophrys tenthredinifera (Sawfly Orchid).
Four-pointed Orchid Naked Man Orchid Pyramidal Orchid Three-toothed Orchid Sawfly Orchid Yellow Bee Orchid
There were also plenty of butterflies on the wing with the highlights being a freshly emerged Spotted Fritillary, Chapman’s Blue, Adonis Blue, Green-underside Blue, Holly Blue, Wall and Large Wall Brown.
Spotted Fritillary Chapman's Blue Green-underside Blue
Saturday 27th April: Today we visited Monte Sacro, another go-to orchid site near Monte Sant Angelo. As we walked up the hill towards the cemetery we saw a Woodchat Shrike at the top of a tree and found Sawfly Orchids growing by the side of the road. Growing amongst the limestone rocks we found Ophrys bertoloniiformis (Bertolonii’s Bee Orchid) and Ophrys biscutella (Spectacled Ophrys). Further on in a wooded area there were a few Roman Orchids and the odd White Helleborine and Sword-leaved Helleborine. On the way back home we found a group of Bug Orchids by the side of the road.
Bertoloniis Bee Orchid Spectacled Orchid Roman Orchid
Sword-leaved Helleborine Sawfly Orchid Bug Orchid
In between the orchids there were some meadows full of flowers which contained Glanville Fritillary, Clouded Yellow, Safflower Skipper, Swallowtail, Painted Lady and Adonis Blue.
Safflower Skipper Glanville Fritillart
Sunday 28th April: For day three we opted for a long walk and a different type of habitat, namely the wooded area known as Bosco Quarto. Numbers and types of orchid were much lower but we did find a single Bird’s-nest Orchid; many Broad-leaved Helleborine not yet in flower, some flowering Roman Orchids and a Giant Orchid well past its best. On the way back to our AirBnB we discovered a field full of orchids but it was getting late and so we made a note to return here in a couple of days for a much more detailed inspection.
Bird's-nest Orchid Roman Orchid Giant Orchid
Monday 29th April: South of Monte Sant Angelo near the coast there are a series of saltpans known as Margherita di Savoia which are a good place to find wetland birds. Flocks of Slender-billed Gull and Mediterranean Gull were soon found together with some Gull-billed Terns flying overhead. Greater Flamingo were in good numbers as were Little Terns and a range of different waders including Avocet, Ruff, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and Greenshank. A pair of mating Lulworth Skippers was found by the side of the saltpans.
Slender-billed Gull Mediterranean Gulls Gull-billed Terns Greater Flamingo Ruff Wood Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper Greenshank Lulworth Skippers mating
Tuesday 30th April: We returned to the large field near Bosco Quarto and set about systematically seeing how many different species of orchid we could identify. Most obvious were the Lizard Orchids, as well as Naked Man x Man Orchid (Orchis x bivonae) and Green-winged x Pink Butterfly Orchid (Orchis x gennarii). Also present were large numbers of Man Orchid, Naked Man Orchid, Sawfly Orchid, Milky Orchid, Pink Butterfly Orchid, Pyramidal Orchid and Green-winged Orchids as well as Tongued Orchids. We followed the path at the far side of the field finding a few Lady Orchids and then a steep bank containing Burnt Orchid, Three-toothed Orchid, Ophrys garganica (Gargano Ophrys) and Ophrys bertolonii (Bertoloni’s Bee Orchid).
Lizard Orchid Naked Man x Man Orchid Bertoloni's Bee Orchid Ophrys garganica Burnt Orchid
The weather was warm and very sunny meaning plenty of butterflies such as Green-underside Blue, Swallowtail, Scarce Swallowtail, Safflower Skipper, Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper, Queen of Spain Fritillary and Adonis Blue. Golden Oriole and Nightingale were both heard singing as were Woodlark, Subalpine Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat.
Queen of Spain Fritillary Scarce Swallowtail Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper
Wednesday 1st May: We now needed to move on to Sassano and so drove from the Gargano Peninsula to our new AirBnB which was located in the very picturesque hill-town Monte San Giacomo. As we drove through the village we noticed several fields by the roadside full of Lady Orchids.
Thursday 2nd May – Saturday 4th May: The Valley of the Orchids at Sassano is a large orchid site focused around a 13 Km long valley. Driving up the hill we saw some Lady Orchids and Provence Orchids by the side of the road. The beginning of the trail is clearly signposted with ample space for parking cars. We spent the next 3 days examining various parts of the valley after which it became clear that there were important differences in the location of orchid species along the 13 Km trail. At the beginning the dominant orchids were Monkey Orchid, Sparse-flowered Orchid, Elder-flowered Orchid, Pink Butterfly Orchid, Common tongued-orchid and Man Orchid. The juxtaposition of Man Orchid and Monkey Orchid gave rise to some stunning hybrids Orchis x bergonii.
Lady Orchid Provence Orchid Monkey Orchid Sparse-flowered Orchid Elder-flowered Orchid Elder-flowered Orchid Pink Butterfly Orchid Man Orchid Common tongued-orchid
Further along we found some Four-Spotted Orchids, Green-winged Orchid, Neotinea tridentata (Three-toothed Orchid) and Early-Purple Orchid. In the small wooded copses by the side of the path there were some Sword-leaved Helleborine and Bird’s-nest Orchid. A scramble up one of banks by the path led to the discovery of a single Burnt Orchid.
Four-spotted Orchid Green-winged Orchid Three-toothed Orchid Sword-leaved Helleborine Early-Purple Orchid Burtn Orchid
On the third day we explored the far end of the valley and it was here that we found some Ophrys orchids namely Yellow Bee Orchid, Ophrys crabronifera and Ophrys pollinensis. Finally one last look at the beginning back near the car revealed some Ophrys incubacea.
Yellow Bee Orchid Ophrys pollinensis Ophrys crabronifera Ophrys crabronifera Ophrys incubacea Yellow Bee Orchid
In the more grassy and open parts of the valley we heard Golden Oriole and Nightingale singing and saw Red-backed Shrike, Black Redstart and Green Woodpecker. The far end of the valley which contained Beech trees was full of singing Wood Warblers.
male Wood Warbler male Wood Warbler male Wood Warbler
Sunday 5th May: Our 10 day orchid trip to Italy had come to an end and we needed to move on to France for the second part of the journey. We drove from Monte San Giacomo to Naples where we picked up a flight to Lourdes and from there drove to the picturesque town of Castet in the French Pyrenees (see next blog).
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