Orchids of Gargano & Sassano
- Nicholas Turner
- May 10, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 31
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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