Plemmirio Marine Protected Area
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The Plemmirio promontory gives its name to the Marine Protected Area, created in 2005, south of the island of Ortigia, the historic centre of Syracuse, one of Sicily's UNESCO sites.
Mentioned in the Aeneid, this corner of paradise plunges into the deep blue Ionian Sea. The Plemmirio sea laps against evocative places such as Capo Murro di Porco, Punta Mola, Rive Bianche, the Batteria, Terrauzza, Fanusa or the Greek Latomie.
A true Eden of 2500 hectares of saltwater with splendid emerald green seabeds, where amphorae, fascias, wrecks and other archaeological finds were discovered, now preserved in the "Paolo Orsi" Museum in Syracuse.
The rock faces the sea, almost as if in a mirror. From emerald green, notice the thousands of shades of turquoise of the sea bed in a perimeter of about 15 kilometres of coastline.
Small sandy inlets among tangles of ragged rocks will make you wish you had kept your shoes on when you try to jump from one rock to another barefoot. You will see urchins, mussels and a thousand brightly coloured fish, or riule, as the locals call them.
There are 35 access points to the sea in the area, some of which are equipped, in summer, for the disabled, with environmentally friendly wooden platforms that blend in harmoniously with the natural scenery.
There are plenty of outdoor activities to choose from. Hiking, birdwatching, snorkelling, deep water soloing or simple walks among the rocks, latomie and cliffs, simply to switch off from it all.
Walk and breathe in iodine amidst the splashes of seawater, amidst the many rupicolous and pioneer species, until you reach the extensive Mediterranean scrub where the dwarf palm is the star of the show. Growing lushly at Capo Murro di Porco, the dwarf palm is the only wild species in Europe.
Pause for a moment and contemplate the panorama precisely where the lighthouse, the symbol of this paradise, stands.
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