Not far from the town of Faeto is the last refuge of the Beech tree on Daunia mountains. In fact, once the beech had to be much more common than it is now, as the name of the nearby municipality Faeto attests. The Faeto’s Difesa woods extends for about 371 acres on the northern slope on the homonymous hill at a height of 3.478 ft asl, continuing then up to the Feudo canal where the waters of the Celone creek are channeled.

Other streams are present in the area beyond Feudo canal and are the Le Cesi creek, Giardina canal. In addition to the beech, in this typical mesophile wood we find the Turkey oak, the white hornbeam, the field maple, the opal maple, the ash tree, the elm and the hazel tree. Continuing along the Feudo canal we find the typical riparian vegetation due to the presence of water, with poplars, willows, elms and ash trees.

Springs are home to several species of amphibians, both of anuri like the Apennine frog and of urodel for which we find both species of newts from the small Italic to the largest Southern crested Triton. This wood perhaps still hosts the Wildcat, the Skunk and the Marten, as well as birds of prey such as the royal Kite and the black Kite, once permanently present and now much rarer. In winter it may also happen to observe the largest bird of prey in the woods: the Goshawk.

Vincenzo Rizzi