NATURE RESERVE IN FARMA VALLEY
The territory
The Farma nature reserve is located between Monticiano and Roccastrada and includes the central part of the beautiful wild valley where Farma stream and Lenzo stream flow: the first one is the main tributary of Merse, the second one is a long stream which flows into Ombrone near Paganico. The sienese part the reserve is delimited by the left bank of Farma, which marks the border between the territories of Siena and Grosseto.
Farma valley, its nature reserve in particular, has some of the most special naturalistic aspects of Italy, that are unique in the territory of Siena. Its greenery is particular and rare and endemic animals find a wild, unspoilt environment, without the human presence. There are no villages in Farma valley, but Iesa, Solaia, Scalvaia and Torniella. This territory was more populous in the past, when its roads and paths were in good conditions, not hidden by woods.
Farma flows across the hills between Monticiano and Roccastrada (Dorsale Monticiano-Roccastrada) and it has shown some of the most ancient geological formations of southern Tuscany, dating back to Paleozoic. The most ancient of these is called Formazione del Sanguigno, it is near a ditch of the same name which flows in Farma river and it is at least 400 million years old (Devonian period).
The outocrop of stratified rocks called Formazione del Farma is a rock face rising steeply from the stream near Iesa and the oldest fossils date it back to the Carboniferous (320 million years ago).
Verrucano group rocks are sedimentary rocks that can be easily found both in the valley and in the hills around the reserve. They are especially made of quartz, so they resist the erosion and make the riverbed of Farma very narrow.