Environment
Capoterra is 17 Km from Cagliari ad located on the south-western corner of the Campidano plain where it is protected by its mountainous hills that descend gradually to the coast. The road from Cagliari to Capoterra follows the perimeter of the Santa Gilla marshes, then, when you arrive in the town and are able to see the roofs of the centre, on the left, you can also admire the sea. Although this journey is all too short you can understand immediately that you are arriving somewhere special, somewhere really important for its environmental features:
a few steps from the sea, a few minutes from the mountains, and a fine view over the marshes. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why during the last decade the number of its inhabitants has doubled, standing today at about 23.000.
Describing and explaining the variety and the naturalistic richness of this territory is not a simple task. The 'wet lands' are especially interesting because they are very rich in avifauna. You can easily admire different bird species: elegant flamingos, herons, sea crows, various breeds of duck, bald-coots, terns, etc.
All this area is covered by typical Mediterranean maquis; in the mountains, however, the vegetation is even more varied; besides the shrubs you can also find cork-oaks, strawberry-tree bush, pinetrees, holm-oaks and below 400-500 metres, also junipers, myrtle, heather, lentisks, cistuses, carobs etc. Finally, near the watercourses, you can also find willows, alders and oleanders.
This flora is home to a rich fauna: the rare Sardinian deer, wild boars, foxes, martens, weasels, hedgehogs and wild cats; and among the birds, the golden eagle, the peregrine falcon, the goshawk and a wide variety of other woodland birds. At the beginning of October the strawberry-tree and myrtle bushes that cover the mountains, attract flocks of blackbirds, thrushes (pillonis de taccula) and migrators.