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Fairies cave

Four artifical caves, dug out on the left side of Samoggia brook, probably dating back to the Middle Ages, and of difficult access.

Te gorge

Located between the Ceparano hill and the Pietramora ravine, in its central part it is a small but steep and narrow gorge.

Millstone cave

It's a small cave, located in a small wood overlooking the farmhouse "la Cà" in Pietramora, where in the past millstones were extracted and used in the farm work.

Geology

In the Marzeno valley the Spungone outcrop forms due main hills: the Ceparano Hill (or Tower Mountain, 510 mt) with the ruins of the old tower, and the Pietramora Hill (or Castellaccio della Pietra, 509 mt).

This yellowish ridge stands out amongst the surrouding clayey hills, due to its structure more resistant to erosion.

The term 'Spungone' comes from the local dialect word 'spugnò' (spongy rock); this rock actually presents a lot of holes and pores, and it's not very different sometimes from travertine.

This riddled surface depends from the different erosive action of water and wind on rocks of different hardness.

This rock (called 'calcarenite organogena') it's a calcareous sandstone mostly formed from small organic remains of sea creatures (molluscs, snails and shellfish) and seaweed.

How did it form?

The large amount of fossil remains, gathered as forming a reef or layers of shell sand, suggests the presence in this area of a shallow sea or a reef.

The geological age of the 'Spungone' has been recently dated back, with innovative technologies, to the 'Piacenziana' era (low-medium Pliocene), noticing a typical growth of carbon platforms between 3.3 and 3.05 millions years ago.

Compared to the normal conditions of local Pliocene, with rather deep sea, the genesis of this rocky outcrop presents a sort of anomaly, a rather shallow sea, due to the raising of the seabed.

For the middle Pliocene we can then depict a scenery, in the south-eastern area of Faenza, a marine enviroment with, on the north side, a raised seabed with reefs and molluscs, someway resembling today's sub-tropical habitat.

Flora and fauna

The traveller who, mainly in springtime, walks through the fields and the woods of this area and loves nature, should look carefully to every single tree, flower, animal, bird or insect: they live there because they find the ideal conditions (climate, enviroment, food) to support the life.

This land enjoys the benefits of a warm and dry micro-climate, sub-mediterranean type, enhanced by the vegetation, with typically southern plants like the pink cistus (Cistus incanus).

This is also true for many species of insects: they actually find in the southern side of the outcrop, warm and dry, their perfect enviroment.

Between the warm and dry southern side and the shadowy and wet northern side there is a great variety of intermediate enviroments, with their own flora and fauna.

The naturalistic haven of Pietramora, although small, presents a very diversified landscape: besides the rocky outcrop of the 'Spungone' - the most relevant feauture of this area - here still can be seen oak woods, pastures, bushes, crops, vineyards; and, not differently, the avifauna too is quite diversified with many birds deserving of mention like 'Pellegrino' hawk (Falco peregrinus), the 'Gheppio' hawk (Falco tinnunculus), the 'Taccola' (Corpus monedola), the buzzard (Buteo Buteo), the red and the green woodpecker, the Royal owl.