Lake Sassano
The Lake Sassano is a karstic doline of the Metropolitan City of Bari, in the territory of Conversano. It is located at 182 m a.s.l. west of the town center, in the district named after it.
The proximity to the town, in an area otherwise lacking surface watercourses, has long favored human activity in the doline’s habitat, which today appears as a water body that only in the driest years becomes an ephemeral lake. Likely as early as pre-Roman times, during the Apulian settlement of, and certainly by at least the 18th century, cisterns made of stone lined with clay mortar were constructed at the bottom of the doline to promote the retention of runoff water. The use of the reservoir for potable and irrigation purposes continued until the construction of the in the early 20th century. In more recent times, the openings of the 31 surviving cisterns have been partially protected for safety reasons.
Since 2006, Lake Sassano has been part of the.
Fauna
Like the other water bodies within the Conversano Lakes Nature Reserve, Lake Sassano is a preferred habitat for numerous amphibian species, among which the Italian newt and the green toad stand out, and reptiles, such as the whip snake, the grass snake, the four-lined snake, the leopard snake, the common gecko, the Kotschy’s gecko, and the western green lizard.Among insects, the southern festoon stands out for its vibrant coloration.
Along the lake’s shores, the presence of numerous bird species is not uncommon: among raptors, notable mentions include the lesser kestrel, the common kestrel, the common buzzard, the sparrowhawk, as well as nocturnal raptors such as the barn owl, the little owl, and the long-eared owl, alongside passerines like the blackcap and the European robin, and corvids such as the Eurasian jay. Peculiar is the presence of wetland-associated birds such as the grey heron, the black-winged stilt, the common moorhen, the little egret, the wood sandpiper, and the squacco heron.
The most observable mammals in the lake’s surroundings are the red fox and the European hedgehog, while sightings of least weasels and stone martens are less frequent.