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 – underlines Nicola Scotto di Carlo, coordinator of the Management Committee of the State Nature Reserve of Vivara Island – It is a further and important piece that adds to the work of the last few months, in full harmony with the Diana family, owners of the islet, and thanks in particular to the daily work of all the members of the committee and the technical structure of the Reserve, with the support of the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the Campania Region, the Municipality of Procida and the recent synergies with the Campi Flegrei Regional Park and with the AMP Regno di Nettuno, as well as with the Carabinieri Forestali, the fire brigade, Sma Campania and SABAP for the Metropolitan Area of Naples”.
“We are very happy that guided tours on Vivara Island are finally resuming. – says Francesca Diana, member of the committee representing the island's owners – This was also made possible by an excellent collaboration between the property and the Reserve, which work together for a common goal, the well-being of Vivara. Together with the Reserve we will participate in the protection of the environmental ecosystem of Vivara, and we will try to make the guided tours even more interesting.
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”.
“Restarting visits to Vivara is a beautiful and necessary act because the natural heritage remains the heritage of all, because beauty must be shared and because it is essential to spread respect for the environment. – says Antonio Carannante, councilor of the Municipality of Procida with responsibility for Vivara – The administration has worked and will always work in the interest of this corner of Procida paradise that 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.
Article published on May 25, 2023 - 16:35 pm
