Naples, after 4 years the islet of Vivara reopens to the public

Vivara reopens to the public: starting this Saturday, it will once again be possible to visit the privately owned islet, halfway between Procida and Ischia, which has been a state nature reserve since 2002.

The islet, which preserves precious traces of settlements dating back to the Bronze Age, when it was a strategic crossroads in maritime traffic from Mycenaean Greece to the West, is one of the most extraordinary biodiversity hotspots for migratory birds and numerous botanical species.

Closed since 2019, it was at the center of a legal battle for ownership and management. In 2015, after a long legal dispute (with 6 levels of judgment, of which 3 in the Court of Appeal and 2 in Cassation) it was assigned to the Diana brothers and since 2016 the municipality of Procida had organized and managed visits; after the pandemic a further series of bureaucratic and logistical problems had prevented its reopening until today.

Vivara will therefore be open to visitors again from Tuesday to Sunday, upon reservation on the official website www.vivarariservanaturalestatale.it, accompanied by the reserve's nature guides and with a route lasting approximately 3 hours, for a maximum of 25 people at a time, and with two daily shifts (9.00 and 11.30 from 15 September to 31 May; 8.30 and 17.00 from 1 June to 14 September), with an entrance ticket of 10 euros per person (5 euros for residents of the island of Procida, 3 euros the reduced ticket for children up to 12 years old).

"The reopening to the public ," emphasizes Nicola Scotto di Carlo, coordinator of the Management Committee of the Isola di Vivara State Nature Reserve, " is another important step forward in the work of recent months. This work has been carried out in full harmony with the Diana family, owners of the islet, and thanks in particular to the daily work of all the committee members and the Reserve's technical structure, with the support of the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the Campania Region, the Municipality of Procida, and recent collaborations with the Campi Flegrei Regional Park and the Regno di Nettuno MPA, as well as with the Carabinieri Forestry Corps, the fire department, Sma Campania, and SABAP for the Naples Metropolitan Area."

"We are delighted that guided tours of Vivara Island have finally resumed, " says Francesca Diana, a committee member representing the island's owners. " This was also made possible by the excellent collaboration between the owners and the Reserve, who work together toward a common goal: the well-being of Vivara. Together with the Reserve, we will participate in protecting Vivara's environmental ecosystem and will strive to make the guided tours even more engaging."

Personally, I wanted to express my personal thanks to the Campania Region, for having listened to the owners in a complicated moment for Vivara, also through the precious support of the Regional Park Authority of Campi Flegrei, in the person of President Francesco Maisto”.

"Reopening visits to Vivara is a wonderful and necessary step, because natural heritage belongs to everyone, because beauty must be shared, and because respect for the environment is essential, " says Antonio Carannante, Procida City Councilor responsible for Vivara. " The administration has worked and will always work in the best interests of this corner of Procida's paradise, which is part of our identity."

The Management Committee is also creating a stable multidisciplinary platform for the study, monitoring, protection and enhancement of the entire Vivara ecosystem with the direct involvement of research institutions and university departments in Campania. The activities will also involve the third sector to fully address the issues of use, accessibility and dissemination of the site.

A careful and constant work that translates into the renewed usability, for the public, of a site of extraordinary naturalistic and historical interest, with its 0,34 square kilometers and its 109 meters above sea level, its sickle-shaped geographical conformation and a morphology evidently linked to its original belonging to a volcanic crater, the oldest in the entire area.

Connected by a bridge to the larger island, Procida, Vivara will once again reveal, together with its Mediterranean scrub, the remains of a villa built in 1861 by Don Giovanni de Guevara, Duke of Bovino, used as a hunting lodge with Charles III and a complex of colonial buildings: a route of certain charm, which adds a unique site of its kind to the experience of visiting the island of Procida, already Italian Capital of Culture 2022.