Isola di Lampedusa e Lampione

The Site comprises the island of Lampedusa and the uninhabited islet of Lampione, which is located in the Sicily Channel. Lampedusa, covering an area of 20.2 square kilometers, consists of Miocene white stratified limestone, belonging to the African continental shelf. Morphologically, Lampedusa is characterized by a plateau with a maximum elevation of 133 meters and incisions that form numerous bays to the south and cliffs to the north. Lampione is geologically and climatically similar to Lampedusa. The shrub formations – halophilic-rocky and halo-nitrophilic – are significant from a vegetational point of view.
The area is of great phytogeographic and zoological interest, hosting numerous rare and endemic plant species, as well as endemic insect species. The population of Eleonora’s falcon is particularly important from an ornithological perspective. Additionally, Lampedusa is home to two ophidians of North African origin and it also host an historic egg-laying area for the loggerhead sea turtle on the beach of “Isola dei Conigli”. Despite anthropogenic degradation which is caused by tourism, the island environment remains extremely interesting and of significant naturalistic and environmental value.