Centro visitatori del Corpo forestale dello Stato, Monte Sant’Angelo

The true Umbra Forest (5,500 hectares) is  the heart of the state-owned forest complexes of Gargano (10,330 hectares),  a vegetal jewel of Gargano and the entire Apulia region. The entire complex represents a truly exemplary case of conservation, management, and facilities for the tourism use of a natural asset. In the Umbra Forest, the tree cover is  mainly made up of broadleaves, among which oaks dominate, but also Aleppo pines and beeches. In the Dispensa area, on the right side of the road that leads from the Umbra Forest to the coast, following the Treasure Valley, you can admire the “colossus of the forest” (marked), a beech about 40 m high and with a circumference at the base of over 5 m. The fauna includes roe deer, an indigenous population characterized by their small size,  as well as wild cats, beech martens, badgers, dormice, martens, foxes, squirrels, and numerous bird species, including the rare Dalmatian woodpecker and birds of prey such as the eagle owl, goshawk, buzzard, and sparrowhawk. Preferred places for observation are the cutini, small karst depressions where rainwater collects, which represent the only natural watering sources for the fauna. A short distance from the trail (about 800 m) is the Visitors Center of the Umbra Forest, where it is possible to admire a 1:25,000 scale model of the Gargano promontory, lithic artifacts attesting to ancient human presence in Gargano, a xylotheque, large photos of faunistic and floristic highlights, and a rich collection of stuffed fauna specimens. Attached to the Center is an outdoor area where a typical charcoal burners’ station has been reconstructed.