Geographical Coordinates:

- Latitude: 40° 59' N

- Longitude: 16° 22' E

The limestone plateau of the Murgia is of great importance as environmental and landscape is an island with an extremely low population density and therefore of urbanization within the populous and , one might say, congested region of Puglia. Despite the small size of the resident population , the Murgia region , especially the North-West , has been used and profoundly changed by man for several centuries, so much so that the forests that originally covered it gave way almost entirely to an herbaceous vegetation in pseudo -steppe Mediterranean, often degraded in turn from overgrazing and strong water and wind erosion that often leaves emerge the bare limestone.

Part of the prairies , also , in more recent times have suffered a mechanical treatment of the soil and were adapted to grow . In this rugged landscape and lonely , by the views and spaces sometimes almost endless , from time to time appear forest cover derived from reforestation carried out on several occasions in the last century , in order to protect from flooding the towns and cities of the coast and facilitate a slow recovery of the soil and the environment. These reforestation , consisting mainly of Mediterranean conifers , appear quite tacky , overly dense and slightly evolved in the sense of a normal ecological succession . Moreover, it is clear that from the point of view of technical silvicultural the action of reforestation has been successful ; forest cover, though at reduced biodiversity , it is reconstituted and the process of soil formation and accumulation of organic carbon is restarted as well as new forest species are slowly reinserendosi in the undergrowth .

Alongside these changes brought about by the return of forest vegetation in the environment Murgia , considerable uncertainties remain about the possible dynamics and structural vegetation of these ecosystems as well as to study and experiment with attention is the question of their proper forest management , but even more important is probably the ' analysis of the effect of afforestation on biodiversity of wildlife, poultry and more, as well as the definition of the scientific and technical basis for an appropriate inclusion of forests , reforestation , trees and hedges within the territory of the Murgia without altering the basic elements but enhancing it, and at the same time improving the microclimate , productivity and , ultimately, biodiversity. On the other hand , in an area so profoundly altered by the impact anthropogenic , they are originated ecosystems secondary , the dry grasslands sub-steppe (pseudo - Mediterranean steppe ) with presence of Stipa austroitalica , have unique characteristics and valuable as regards the biodiversity. These are an important habitat protected by European legislation. Many of the plant species are rare for Italy and witness , with their geographic distribution in eastern gravitation , the presence of a quota flora coming from Eastern Europe . They indicate a link phytogeographical of Puglia with the territories bordering on the opposite shore of the Adriatic. In addition, the most important species , Stipa austroitalica , falls for its rarity among those priorities mentioned in the Habitats Directive . The structure of plant communities is due to vegetation types in Illyria . Therefore , based on the characteristics of rarity and biogeographical interest of the flora and vegetation, this habitat is subject primarily to the efforts of preservation and protection . Paradoxically , on the one hand, the action of man has almost completely destroyed the original tree cover , the other has created a semi-natural habitats of great value. The management of the Alta Murgia for conservation purposes , therefore, must involve mainly the protection of both the tree , that the sub-steppe grasslands . Within this site you will also be important factor in the fires in this area is rather frequent, which will be monitored emissions into the atmosphere.