After a year and a half of mass domestic semi-confinement, it is increasingly important, whenever possible, to dive into the boundless green spaces. It has been demonstrated on several occasions, if ever there was a need, that the active relationship with nature halves the effects of stressful events. They have never failed, indeed, they have recently become more pronounced. And this inexhaustible balm is valid and within everyone’s reach. According to Europarc, a 30-minute brisk walk five days a week through lawns, trees and gardens reduces the risk of heart attack by 20-30% and depression or dementia by 30%.
Moving in green contexts stimulates the functions of the brain, in particular the hippocampus, the brain area that is the fulcrum of behavior and learning. All that remains is to return to experience the parks, also taking advantage of their therapeutic function. As the Alta Murgia National Park, in Puglia, where, guided by specialized nature guides, they can be followed and Geopassi, a range of itineraries along the territorial geosites, recognized and listed on a world scale, so much so that they catalyze thousands of karst and caving enthusiasts. A sort of sedentary and accelerated journey around the history of the earth, since the age of the dinosaurs. Among the most emblematic sites, we mention the Cave di Bauxite, the canyon lit intensely red in Spinazzola (in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani), while in Altamura (Bari) the Cava Pontrelli, which preserves over 25 thousand dinosaur footprints ( discovered in ’99) and the Lamalunga Cave, with its skeletal remains, decomposed and fossilized, of the so-called Man of Altamura, among the oldest Neanderthal prototypes.
The Geopasses can be traveled by bike or on foot, present different levels of difficulty and are, as we said, paths that lead to sites of significant beauty and geotourism. A timeless dimension, in which the connection between man and nature is a concrete fact. By setting out on the road, or in the saddle, the thrilling scenery of the Apulian Murgia, characterized by caves, sinkholes, blades, jazzi, farms, chasms, oak and conifer woods, rock vegetation, protected animal and plant species, rural settlements and dry stone walls. Visiting the Alta Murgia Park means rediscovering, in an experiential way, the tratturi of the transhumance and the prodigious Federician castles, in the first place the Castel del Monte of Andria, a 13th century fortress renowned in the four corners of the planet for its octagonal shape and today a Unesco World Heritage Site.
From Geopasso to Geopasso, you can savor the ethno-botanic cuisinea, able to sublimate in dishes the spontaneous herbs of which the area is flourishing. And every Geopasso is linked to an absolute food and wine excellence: from the lentils and bread of Altamura to the “balloon of Gravina” (caciocavallo). And you will discover the cultivation of the Black Chickpea of ​​Cassano (a Slow Food legume) and the precious extra virgin olive oil of Coratina, in the north of Bari.
This geological-tourist heritage deserves, according to many, an upgrade. Two years ago, a preliminary process for his candidacy in the Unesco network of geoparks was launched: there are 161 in the globe, distributed among 44 nations. We’ll see.
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