The Bauxite Quarry of Spinazzola, the incredible canyon of the Alta Murgia

In the heart of the Alta Murgia National Park in Apulia is one of the largest and most fascinating protected natural areas in Italy. The park is a few miles from the municipality of Spinazzola, surrounded by a landscape dominated by green hills and olive groves, a real geological treasure. It is a surreal place with scenic beauty compared to American Canyons. It is a fascinating deposit of red earth, an abandoned quarry from which bauxite was extracted in the past, a sedimentary rock used to produce aluminum.



The deposit was discovered in 1935 and extractions began in the 1950s until the end of 1978, the year in which new foreign materials arrived which made mineral extraction precious. The enormous valley, with a crater fifty meters deep, was abandoned without ever being covered again. Today, what once represented the most important Italian deposit for the extraction of bauxite, has been transformed into an extraordinary nature reserve capable of attracting visitors from all over the world, intrigued by its extraordinary colors and the geological history that surrounds this splendid area of ??Apulia.



In addition to its scenic beauty, the Bauxite Quarry of Spinazzola also has great ecological value. In fact, despite the extreme conditions and the presence of highly acidic water stagnations, micro-communities of plants and animals have developed in the quarry, plant species that have adapted their survival mechanisms to this apparently hostile environment. This is an unmissable destination for trekking and photography enthusiasts, the tangible testimony of the incredible diversity and beauty that our planet continues to give us.

This fantastic region, near Otranto is home to another suggestive Bauxite Quarry, a small lake with dazzling colors and a great visual impact.

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