The Vespa on the Amalfi Coast, the gelato in Florence or the colourful houses of the Cinque Terre—we all know the cliché images of Italy on travel portals. This is no wonder that Italy ranks fifth worldwide for tourists with around 64.7 million international tourist arrivals in 2019, just behind France, Spain, the USA, and China.

But in times of the pandemic, it is advisable to avoid crowds as much as possible. At the same time, however, we also deserve to free our minds from the virus for a few days after being locked down. This is possible even in heavily frequented tourist destinations like Italy, for example in the Marche region. Unlike Lombardy or Sardinia, the region located in the centre of the country rarely makes it into the international press or pop-up advertising on Google. However, the 1.5 million inhabitants enjoy 173 kilometres of Adriatic coast and little cultural treasures—and so do the tourists who “get lost” in this region! But what is there to discover?

Fermo – Between the Middle Ages and the Roman Empire

Turns out there’s more than you might expect. The town of Fermo is a small jewel of the region. Located on top of a hill, the balconies of the city offer a panoramic view. In addition, the narrow streets are adorned with medieval walls. Culturally, Fermo offers an art gallery full of late Gothic paintings and one of Italy’s most renowned libraries full of ancient books and manuscripts. The 18th-century theatre “dell’Aquila” is considered  to be one of the most beautiful in the Marche and hosts operas and plays.

Aside from its cultural offer, Fermo also hides a historic treasure: the large Roman cisterns are a patrimony of the Augustan age. The cisterns have a maximum capacity of about 15,000 cubic metres which makes them the largest ever built by the Romans when it comes to surface area. But what if nature is calling instead?

Conero Natural Park – The Two Sisters and the Black Sand

What sounds like the title of a fairy tale are actually two different excursion destinations in the Conero Natural Park, which is located on the Adriatic coast. While there are various corners to discover, the Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle has to be one of the most well-known. Its two cliffs are called “due Sorelle” (“two sisters”) because they seem to have the shape of two praying nuns. The beach, which can be reached by ferry, was named one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in Italy in 2013.

Another destination is the Sassi Neri near Sirolo. This beach is not a real sandy beach and rather it is a stretch of coast with many tiny stones. From the parking lot, it is about a half-hour hike to the beautiful waters. The rather steep path is tough but leads directly through the flora and fauna of the national park. Guess the unavoidable sweating is worth it! But what if the city is calling instead?

San Benedetto del Tronto – From Sightseeing to the Beach

San Benedetto del Tronto, a city on the Adriatic Sea is located towards the southeast tip of the Marche, just before the border with Abruzzo. Founded in the 10th century, the city hosts one of the most important fishing ports in Italy. Seafaring is of great historical importance as demonstrated in detail across the various museums in the city. If the sea was was conquered, the land would subsequently be protected by two castles which guarded the city from any possible threats. If it is too hot for sightseeing, San Benedetto del Tronto also offers an 8-kilometre-long sandy beach and there are approximately 7,000 palm trees in the city for tourists to admire.

To our dismay, traveling remains difficult in today’s time. But perhaps, the Marche awoke the distant dreamer in you. Once we can pack our bags again and cross mountains as if it was nothing, you might find your way to the Marche, Italy’s lesser-known region. Crystal-clear waters, cultural offers, and a fresh plate of pasta are waiting for you!

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But there are places, no less European, where little of this can reach.

In the region of Troms og Finnmark, in Northern Norway, every winter magic repeats itself with no need for human intervention. The sun sets never to rise again until spring; the snow cloaks in a pale cape mountain and forest alike; and millions of herring fill the fjords, luring a host of whales and orcas. The latter is one of the most unique Wild Europe events.

Tours depart from Tromsø, a university town 75,000-strong, white pearl perched over 300 kilometres above the Arctic Circle. By car, van or bus, a jumbled band of operators will take people to the island of Skjervøy, some 130 kilometres farther north, where the whale feast is held. The guides are people like Aurore. Aside from boasting an apt name for these latitudes, she is a Belgian married to an Italian, speaking English to the tourists and Norwegian to the locals, and driving studded-wheeled through winding, frozen roads. It doesn’t get any more European than that.

Around 9:00 AM, the world starts to lighten up. The sun does not rise, but lingers at the rim of the southern horizon for a few hours, delivering an eerie hue. The polar twilight unveils the shape of jagged mountains looming around, shimmering fjords and shiny fir trees caked with ice. The very trip to Skjervøy is a wonder in itself.

Skjervøy is a fishermen village, to which whale tourism is both bless and blight. The whale-watching boats are moored at the local harbour, next to fishing vessels, tugs and sailers. By the time the party gets there, the southern sky is blushing and the north is azure: the light is finally enough to go at sea.

As the boat leaves the piers, a breeze picks up, raising plumes of spray from the foamy swells, spitting shreds of icy water all around. The temperature is still mild for the arctic, only a few degrees below freezing.

“There she blows!”. It is not long before the nowadays whalers spot the first spouts, an eruption of steam four metres tall: it’s a group of humpback whales. They move slowly, some tens of metres by the side of the boat. Above the surface, their blows are loud and contain a dissonant, characteristic high note. Below the surface, however, these giants sing low, lovely melodies. At some point, they head for the concert halls of the deep, diving; their flukes emerge, dripping water as if to say goodbye.

The boat moves farther off the coast. This time, tall black fins slash the swells, betraying the presence of orcas. Killer whale society is centred on matriarchal families which unite into larger blood-bound groups, or pods. Normally, pods live on their own, but here they gather from all over the North to feed. Their dozens of local dialects and foreign languages mingle in the water, making for a Nordic cultural melting pot. They head for some fishing vessels, where they will snatch herring directly from the nets. Fishermen must be careful: should one of the rascals get entangled in their gear, they would be forced by law to release the whole catch.

Once pillage and plunder are done, the raiding orcas move on in a slow post-meal travel. They appear and disappear in a sinuous dance, riding the waves. Their quiet blows are the only sound breaking the silence, soft and soothing beyond words. The day, too, is drowsily drawing to an end. The mountain tops, fang-like, bite at the fiery horizon. The sharp orcas’ dorsal fins seem to mimic the surrounding peaks.

Dusk darkens. It is time to head back, freezing outwardly but warm within. On the way to Tromsø, the serene skies may well bless the polar travellers with the green-purple sight of the Northern Lady.

Wanderers for a day, Europeans young and old will soon head back to their cities of lights, clubs, concerts and cramped buildings. But now they know there is more to their homeland. A place where only Aurora shines in the night, her features move in dance, leviathans sing, and the blackfish dwell.

Guest article by Luca Mapelli. This content does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of My Country? Europe. Responsibility for the information and views expressed therein lies entirely with the author.

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1 – Traditionally, those who succeed in climbing Mount Triglav – Slovenia’s highest mountain with its 2864 metres – for the first time have to face a peculiar christening: being spanked with a rope. This three-headed (its name means as much) peak is so much a part of Slovenian identity that it even features on the country’s national flag. Climbing the mountain at least once in a lifetime is often considered the patriotic duty of every Slovene.

2 –  France Prešeren’s poem ‘Zdravljica’ (‘A Toast’) is Slovenia’s national anthem. Uniquely, each of its stanzas is shaped like a wine glass through concrete poetry techniques, making it quite suitable for raising a toast.

3 – In 2003, a campaign started to partially or completely alter Slovenia’s flag, adopted after achieving independence. The aim was to enhance Slovenia’s international recognition, and especially to differentiate it from the very similar flag of Slovakia. An eleven-striped design won the official contest. However, due to public opinion being strongly against this change, the results of this contest were never enacted. 

4 –  Vrtiglavica, a karst shaft in Slovenia, features the longest straight vertical drop in the world (603 metres) and one of the tallest underground waterfalls. It won’t surprise you to learn that the Slovenian word “vrtiglavica” translates to “vertigo”.

5 – The fifth largest religion in Slovenia is the Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing. Born as a parody religion in 2013 with the aim of protesting corruption in politics, it has since enlarged and now counts over ten thousand members. Followers of this religion gather every Wednesday around the “Temple of Corruption” (the National Assembly Building of Slovenia) for holy mass. During the mass, they use pots, pans, and bells to produce clanking sounds.

6 – Lake Bled is undoubtedly the most recognisable tourist attraction in Slovenia. In the middle of it, you will find one of the very few islands in Slovenia. Bled Island is home to an important pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The church is a popular destination for couples looking to marry. Traditionally, it is considered good luck for the groom to carry his bride up 99 steps leading up to the church, before ringing the bell and making a wish inside.

7 – A whopping 216 square kilometres of Slovenia are covered in vineyards. There is one vineyard or winery approximately for every 70 people! Wine is so important here that the country even can boast the oldest vine in the world. The Old Vine in Maribor is over 400 years old and still bears between 35 and 55 kilos of red grapes annually. 

8 – In the early and mid 20th century, the spaces of Ljubljana Castle were transformed into apartments for socially disadvantaged citizens.

9 – Slovenia is among the most biologically diverse countries in the world. It accounts for less than 0.004% of the Earth’s surface but is home to more than 1% of all living creatures and 2% of terrestrial creatures. A total of 24,000 animal species live there, and almost 60% of its territory is covered by forest. In recent decades, the proportion of forest has been increasing, with the government planting over 1,200,000 trees a year. As if that weren’t enough, a remarkable 53.6% of the country is protected land, a higher percentage than any other European nation.

10 – Hives and honey are extremely popular in Slovenia: there are around 90,000 beekeepers in a population of just two million.

Did you enjoy learning more about Slovenia? Check out also our top ten facts about Malta and Russia!

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Millions of birds migrate across Europe every year, from North to South and East to West, crossing borders and countries. Their migration comes to the delight of birdwatchers all over the European continent and beyond. In this third article dedicated migrant birds of Europe, you won’t read about transcontinental flights such as those of storks or honey buzzards across the Mediterranean and Sahara towards Africa. Instead, we will focus on some of the shorter-distance migrants which don’t necessarily leave our continent: gulls.

Do gulls really migrate? 

We are used to seeing these seabirds wherever there is enough water for them to feed and rest. By the sea, on lakes, and along the rivers of Europe live around a dozen of species of gulls. It is not uncommon to see them even some tens of kilometers inland. Nearly all of these species are at the same time migratory and non-migratory, depending on single populations.

Black-headed Gull populations of the British Islands, Northern Germany and along the Danube river, for example, breeds and live all year long in the same area. On the other hand, Scandinavian and north-eastern European groups of this same species retreat to south-east during winter.

A particular migratory bird is the Lesser Black-backed Gull. Some groups living in the British Isles, Belgian and Dutch coasts and the French and Spanish Atlantic coast doesn’t migrate, while those breeding in the Baltic migrate across central and eastern Europe to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea or even to Africa.

Some others are never sedentary. An indigenous European gull of this type is the Little Gull, also the smallest gull species native to Europe. A quite long distance migrator, this bird travel across the whole of Europe every year from Finland and Northern Russia through three directions, a northern one to the British Isles and the North Sea, a central one to Western Mediterranean, the Spanish Atlantic and the north African coast, a southern one to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Pontus.

Gulls in the urbanised world

In recent years, gulls have become more and more confident within the European urbanized environment. This has started causing problems, from simple disturbances caused by noise and mess from droppings, all the way up to attacks on humans and pets. Large gulls such as the Herring, the Yellow Legged and the Lesser Black-backed are usually the most aggressive species.

However, even other species are not to be underestimated. After all, these birds are predators and not otiose, cooing pigeons. Controlling gulls is not as easy as it may seem. In most of Europe, gulls are protected under local and national legislation together with other wild birds. Unless there are concerns on grounds of public health or public safety, city councils will rarely take action.

This means that it is often up to single citizens to face the nuisance these animals cause. The best method of controlling them is to deny them nesting places on buildings. Unfortunately, local authorities have no legal powers to force owners or occupiers of buildings to carry out works to their buildings to prevent birds from nesting. Nor do they have power to make them take action against birds that have nested, even if they are causing problems.

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Millions of birds migrate across Europe every year, from North to South and East to West, crossing borders and countries. Their migration comes to the delight of birdwatchers all over the European continent and beyond. When summer ends, it’s not just the storks who leave, but other species too. The honey buzzard is one of the birds of prey that packs up and flies southwards to sub-Saharan Africa.

The honey buzzard derives its name from the binomen Pernis Apivorus, literally meaning “bee-eating bird of prey”.  They are also generally known as perns, or common perns. Apivorus derives from the Latin apis, “bee” and –vorus, “eating”. Pernis, on the other hand, is supposed to be a corrupted form of pernes, a term used by Aristotle in his History of animals to identify birds of prey. And in fact, its diet is based on insects such as bees or wasps and their nests and larvaes, although it sometimes eats other insects, small mammals and birds or reptiles.

With the exception of the British isles, tundras and steppes, these birds breed in most of Europe. You can see them in amazingly large numbers over sea straits such as those of Gibraltar or Messina before their long flights over western Sahara. Numerous flocks alternatively pass through the Bosporus, before taking the eastern route towards Africa.

Migration

Sadly, migratory birds are a privileged target for poachers, and honey buzzards make no exception. Hundreds of those raptors get shoot-down every year, according to Italy’s LIPU (Italian League for Bird Protection). Most of these killings take place in the Italian regions of Calabria and Sicily, as well as in Malta. Luckily, though, such illegal practices are declining in Italy, thanks to tighter norms on hunting and increased wildlife guards patrols.

While concerning, these hunting practices haven’t considerably affected the western migration route taken by this species – which goes from Scandinavia to southern Spain. The honey buzzard remains classified as a species of “least concern” in terms of its conservation status. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in fact, the honey buzzard does not qualify as threatened, near threatened, or conservation dependent.

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A journey that begins in Austria, then traverses the length of former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, then Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, over 500km of journey in total. It’s not a nostalgia trip through the Balkans, but the beginning of a very long flight, undertaken by black storks twice every year. The journey then progresses southward over Albania and Greece, crossing the Mediterranean. A brief stop in Cyrenaica preceeds the daring flight over the Sahara desert, finally reaching the storks’ destination: Chad.

These birds breed in continental Europe: Germany, Austria, Czechia and Poland. They also push further East: the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia are all common breeding grounds for black storks. At the onset of summer, the storks begin their long journey towards the South, flying over the Balkans as mentioned, but also Italy, the Bosphorus and the Caucasus. Their southward migration will keep them from freezing during the harsh winters of continental Europe.

There’s also a westward route: sometimes storks opt for a flight over France and the Pyrenees, reaching Spain.  Carrying on towards Africa is a possibility, but some storks find Southern Spain to be more than sufficiently warm, and settle there for a cozy winter, alongside British expats tired of rainy days.

Article by Matteo Bonvicini

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