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The coast of Zingaro is one of the few in Sicily without coastal road, despite it had been a planned and actually began as early as 1976. In order to obtain the suspension of work and revocation of funding, from 1974 to 1981 several environmental associations united to a common complaint, supported by a massive media campaign aimed at raising public awareness which resulted on May 18, 1980, in a march protest involving about 3,000 people, where peacefully and symbolically took possession of the territory. Subsequently, the Regional Law 98/81, is officially established the Natural Reserve of the Zingaro, the first reserve in Sicily entrusted to manage the Company Regional State Forests. Today the reserve, with an area of 1650 hectares, is located across the Western Gulf of Castellammare, along a coast line of about 7 km, between the village of Scopello and San Vito Lo Capo. The Natural Reserve of the Zingaro enchants for its rugged beauty and its intense colors in every season, for its white caves set in a turquoise sea, the ubiquitous dwarf palms, lush Mediterranean vegetation, the wilde olive trees and carob trees majestic from where one can see the graceful shapes of the farmhouses. The Zingaro Reserve is deeply linked to the sea, which is not only the geographical boundary but the constant background of the landscape and the essential complement the naturalistic aspects. The coast is an alternation of high cliffs that plunge into the blue coves and gently slopes towards the sea. The pebbly coves seen from the sea have the appearance of clear niches hollowed on the side of the dolomite walls that entering from the south side of Scopello and going North take the name of the Cala Capreria (pictured left), Cala del Varo (reachable via sea), Cala della Disa or Zingaro, Beretta Cala, Cala Marinella, Cala dell'Uzzo Torre, whose limestone substrate enhances the transparency of the water just like a tropical environment, and finally Tonnarella dell'Uzzo. Within the reserve there are also the Natural History Museum, the Museum of Maritime Activities, Museum of Rural Life, where he played the complete cycle of wheat, the Environmental Education Center, two picnic areas and rural blocks used for the bivouac. The reserve is perfectly usable by all, there are three classic tracks: the first runs along the coast from one limit to the other of the reserve (it is the most popular, and also the least challenging), the second proceeds in a zig zag on the territory, crossing the coast and the mountains (more challenging), the third is reserved in most sports, and pretty much runs through the Zingaro Reserve from top to bottom.
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