| The green of the prairies | |
| There isn’t a slope, a ridge or a rise of our territory that doesn’t give hospitality to a meadowland. The meadows and pastures, the farmer’s pieces of work, draw that particular landscape of which we appreciate the richness of the shapes, of the colours and the evocations of the values which belong to the country and pastoral life, which have always been bound to them. In such a complex and composite landscape the role of the vegetation is deeply linked to the economical and cultural background of the territory. The meadowlands are the background colour of wide parts of the territory which should be appreciated in the same way for its road network, its aggregated or scattered distribution of farmsteads and haylofts and in the continuous and industrious presence of man in order to place and adjust slopes and contain hedges and woody edges. In the valleys of the Mountain Community there is that harmonious permeation between environmental and cultural values and the result is under the eyes of anyone who wants to interpret this typical pre-alpine landscape only from a purely aesthetical viewpoint. | |
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What everyone can see has the value of a spontaneity which is not random and of a skilful administration of the ground. The best rich meadowlands are located in the valley floor next to the built-up areas and on the lowest slopes of our mountains, where during the spring season the elevated culms of the very high oats, of the bluegrass and of the darnel seem to wave. During the vegetative season these meadowlands, which are regularly mowed and manured, are covered with the many-coloured blooms of the swollen catchfly, of the thousand-leaf, of the daisy and of the blackish cornflower, which would become perfumed hay. On the Hills of St. Fermo and on almost all the ridges of the slopes without woods you can find the “mountain pasture meadows”. Because of the cooler climate, in these prairies the grassy mantle has a different composition from the meadowlands located in the valley floor. It’s on these prairies that during the summer season the narcissus used to spread in huge and snow-white blooms which still today are kept in mind by the older people when they used to make the cheerful “narcisate” (long walks in order to find and pick up the narcissus flowers). It’s all over now, but not because of the plundering perpetuated by the people-who today have become more respectful of the plant life-but of the end of the zootechnical activity, which has deprived the ground of its necessary organic manure. Notwithstanding this, on these meadowlands the miracle of the many-shaped blooms of the crocus, of the primrose, of the tassel hyacinth, of the gentian and of the narcissus once again is renewed every spring, but in a considerably lower quantity. |
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Therefore, it’s the dry natural meadowlands which live on the barren grounds exposed to the sun, the debris and the rocks that give hospitality to the most rare and precious plant life of our territory. Rich of species which are scattered in the areas circumscribed to the Lombard lakes, our plant life can boast the presence, among the other plants, of the “campanula dell’Insubria” (bell-flower from Insubria: Campanula elatinoides-Insubria is another word to say Lombardy), of the “meringia insubrica” (Moheringia insubrica), of the “glauca euforbia dell’ Insubria” (Euphorbia variabilis), of the showy queen-of-the-meadows (Telekia speciosissima) and of the sedge from the Baldo Mountain (Carex baldensis). Naturally, these dry environments are prevalently diffused on the coast of the Sebino Area, above all not far from the “Corno di Predore” (Horn of Predore), where the temperature is mild also in the depths of winter. You have to take into account that in the Lombard region you can find the “glasto precoce” (Isatis praecox-flower of a light blue, between green and darker blue) only on the Horn of Predore, but, beside the rarities which are present, the Horn, together with the wonderful panoramic views on the lake, offers the visitor the numberless blooms of white and yellow rock rose, of the dryad (grassy plant with pink flowers), of the milkwort and the cytisus, of the perfumed lemon herb and herb-of-grace, of the bearbind and the “lilioasfodelo”, of the “laserpizio” (umbrella-shaped tree with white flowers, widely used in the popular medicine) and of the white burdrock. In these sunny environments, apparently barren and inhospitable, it’s possible to find the most part of the spontaneous orchids coming from Lombardy; different orchids and “ofridi” (a particular kind of orchid), the rosy dead man’s finger, the “listera maggiore”, the “cefalantera maggiore” and the violet bear’s foot during the different seasons bring the message of the most surprising natural beauty. |
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| Lower, at the Horn’s feet, plants such as the holm-oak, the turpentine tree, the heather and, along the coastal road, the flaming broom with the multicoloured blooms of the oleanders recall the Mediterranean environments with awesomeness, naturally helped by the mitigating effect of the lake. |
