The southern extremity of the Italian peninsula is inexplicably off the radar of a great many European orchid-hunters, but not of those born and bred in the country. The area is justly famous among Italian orchid aficionados for the richness, volume, and variety of its orchids, particularly in late May, a time when much of the rest of the European orchid season has already peaked.
Here in the regions of Basilicata, Campania and Puglia the season is reaching its peak, with a cornucopia of orchids to be found if you know where to look. And, of course, we do! With renowned Italian biologist Michele Viganò, and dedicated European orchid-hunter and Orchid Summer author Jon Dunn as our tour leaders, we’ll be getting straight into the heart of orchid-country from the very beginning, and can look forward to a week absolutely packed with hidden treasures drawn from a very long list of astonishing late-flowering orchids and their hybrids.
We will visit diverse habitats, from the dry plateaus of the Apulian ‘Murge’, to the quite high calcareous peaks of Cilento National Park in Campania, from gentle slopes to sparse coniferous plantations in Basilicata where the Ophrys bee orchids carpet the woodland floor. Probably the most iconic Italian orchid is Ophrys lacaitae and our tour will let you observe hundreds or even thousands of this astonishing orchid, as well as a number of colour variations and hybrids with this species as a parent.
The variety of Ophrys we will observe is a long one, and goes beyond the primrose yellow loveliness of lacaitae – it should include a substantial number of Italian endemics such as O. apulica, O. celiensis, O. cinnabarina, O. conradiae, O. lucana, O. pinguis, O. pollinensis, O. posidonia, and O. pseudoatrata, plus still more bee-orchids that are not strictly Italian endemics as Italy generously shares them with other parts of neighbouring Europe!
Other orchid genera are very well represented, especially in the Cilento National Park where we will visit the mighty ‘Valle delle Orchidee’ (the Valley of the Orchids). Among the more common and widespread species, we might encounter such goodies as Orchis quadripunctata and Serapias cilentana. Hybrids are quite common in these areas and we’ll specifically visit some localities where, in the last few years, we have found plenty of them: two Ophrys hybrids are still being named and described by Michele and some of his local orchid-hunting friends. We will, of course, be well plugged in to Michele’s network of local contacts, and if there have been some exciting discoveries made prior to or during our visit, we will hear about them and adapt our plans accordingly!
In summary, this tour offers a unique opportunity to enjoy treading the orchid path less-travelled, to see some spectacular Italian orchids with a high possibility of some tremendous hybrids as the icing on the cake, in a beautiful area of southern Italy at a time in the late spring when the orchid season is generally considered to be waning elsewhere. We’re very excited to offer this tour, and hope you’ll enjoy joining us there.
