Top 6 Natural Monuments around Gruaro

Il Guado di San Pietro, located near Bagnarola, is a place where history blends with the nature of the springs. This ancient crossing on the Versiola canal owes its name to the nearby church of San Pietro, a Romanesque jewel mentioned as early as the 12th century. In the past, the ford represented a fundamental transit point for wayfarers and pilgrims heading to the Abbey of Sesto, offering a safe passage in a territory dominated by water. Today, the area retains a suspended and evocative atmosphere, immersed in lush vegetation of alder and willow trees. The small church, with its fifteenth-century frescoes, testifies to the deep rural spirituality of Friuli. It is an essential stop for those who travel along the nature trails connecting the village to the Mulini di Stalis.

The Sanstino territory was characterized in its southern part by large lagoons and marshes until a few decades ago. Until the first half of the 20th century, these environments proved very harmful to humans, in various aspects, as they were a source of diseases, such as malaria, and were not sufficiently productive. Thus, with major land reclamation works, the land was taken from the water to make it cultivable and to obtain products that allowed many families to live. However, the lagoons were also a huge reservoir of biodiversity with many species of animals and plants that were largely destroyed during the land reclamation operations. It is also for this reason that, within the project for the historical reconstruction of the Bandiziol and Prassaccon woods, it was desired to leave a further mark of what the territory and landscape of S. Stino once were, by creating a wetland area, partly similar to the numerous wetlands once present even within the woods, called "bassone". This intervention is not only an operation of "philological" recovery of the pre-reclamation hydraulic system but, above all, presents a significant environmental value as it reconstructs the natural habitat of various bird species. The small lake is located in the eastern part of the Bosco di Bandiziol, covers an area of approximately 10,000 sq m and has a rounded shape with small islands within it. To better reproduce different lake habitats, the small lake has varying depths, from a few centimeters to over 2 meters, thus offering many bird species the opportunity to find a suitable environment to stay. In fact, in the shallower waters and marginal areas, it is possible to see herons, egrets, plovers, mallards, and other surface ducks. In the rest of the lake, there are divers, cormorants, and diving ducks that find food in open water or on deep bottoms. The islands and the winding perimeter shapes were created specifically to allow the avifauna to hide and find refuge, so that it can be disturbed as little as possible by human presence. In fact, the conformation of the banks and the vegetation (reeds, herbaceous and shrubby vegetation) offer all the necessary environments for the rest, feeding, and nesting of birds.

The Palù del Bandiziol is a wetland formed by a sulfur spring that, at its source, gives off the characteristic smell of rotten eggs. This wetland is of great naturalistic value due to the presence of numerous bird species.

Now, next to the ford, there is a comfortable metal walkway

On the border between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia there is a very beautiful path immersed in nature, which starts from Gruaro and crosses the Versiola river, until reaching the Stalis mills. A historical and naturalistic path in the countryside full of canals and bodies of water.

Bosco Bandiziol, a green lung between San Stino di Livenza and Loncon

The Taiedo lakes are ten stretches of water surrounded by vegetation and frequented by fishermen and nature lovers. They were originally pools of water surrounded by a marshy environment; they became as we see them today following the construction of the A28 motorway; in fact, the materials for the construction of the road were obtained from the area of the lakes and then the natural area was completely redeveloped; the last step was the mural that decorates the underpass of the A28 that leads to the lakes in the municipality of Chions, created by Arianna Garlatti, of the Galvani State Institute of Art in Cordenons. https://www.ilgazzettino.it/pay/udine_pay/azzano_valorizzare_i_laghetti_di_taiedo_e_cesena_e_uno_degli_obiettivi_primari-3528587.html

Venchieredo Fountain "Between Cordovado and Venchieredo, one mile between the two towns, there is a large and clear fountain that also has the voice of containing many cooling and healthy qualities in its water. But the nymph of the fountain did not believe that she only trusted the virtues of water to lure the devotees and surrounded herself with such a beautiful horizon of meadows, woods and sky, and with such a hospitable shade of alders and willows that it is in truth a recess worthy of Virgil's brush this where she liked to place her room. Hidden and meandering paths, the whisper of rivulets, sweet and mossy slopes, nothing is missing all around. It is precisely the mirror of a sorceress, that clear blue water that, gushing insensibly from a bottom of tiny gravel, rose to double in her womb the image of such a picturesque and pastoral scene. They are places that make one think of the inhabitants of Eden before sin; and they also make us think without disgust about sin now that we are no longer inhabitants of Eden. There, therefore, around that fountain, the vague girls of Cordovado, Venchieredo and even Teglio, Fratta, Morsano, Cintello and Bagnarola, and other nearby villages, have used to gather on festive evenings since time immemorial. And they stay there for a long time in songs in laughter in conversations in snacks until the mother, the lover and the moon lead them back home. I did not even want to tell you that young men also compete with girls, because it was already something to imagine. But what I intend to note is that, having made the accounts at the end of the year, I believe and affirm that people come to the Venchieredo fountain more to make love than to drink; and besides, more wine is drunk there than water. You know; in these cases it is necessary to obey the sausages and ham of the snacks more than the superstition of passing water. I for myself there were the beautiful vaults to that enchanting fountain; but once only once did I dare to profane with my hand the virgin crystal of her sap. The hunt had led me there, broken by fatigue and burned with thirst; more, my flask of white wine no longer wanted to cry. If I went back now, maybe I would drink it in large sips as if to rejuvenate myself ... "