The route starts in Mazzarino, along Provincial Road 27, which continues on State Road 626 and reaches Torre di Manfria after 37.3 kilometers. The next stop is Biviere and Piana di Gela, which you reach after 21 kilometers following the route on the map.
The Biviere di Gela oriented nature reserve is a regional nature reserve in Sicily, established in 1997. The reserve includes the area closely surrounding Lake Biviere, a relict lake enclosed in the dunes of the Gulf of Gela, just a kilometer and a half from the sea, from which it was largely fed in the past. The area on which the Reserve stands was, until the sixteenth century, a brackish marshy environment. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Duke Giovanni of Aragona transformed it into a fresh water lake by connecting it with an underground channel to the Dirillo river. Until the mid-twentieth century, the lake was a hunting and fishing reserve. In 1991 it was declared a wetland of international importance recognized by the Ramsar Convention.
The vegetation of the area surrounding the lake is characterized by various hydrophilic species such as, among the most present, the Potamogeton pectinatus.
Ceratophyllum demersum, Scirpus maritimus, Scirpus lacustris and Phragmites australis are also present to a lesser extent.
The surrounding meadows are home to species such as thyme and rosemary as well as, in spring, several wild orchids including Ophrys oxyrrhynchos, a rare Sicilian endemism.
The white broom (Retama raetam), the beach cornflower (Centaurea sphaerocephala) and the rare Leopoldia gussonei, a punctiform endemism of the coast of the Gulf of Gela, thrive in the dune strip that separates the lake from the sea.
The Biviere di Gela is the largest coastal lake in Sicily and constitutes one of the most important resting and wintering areas for numerous species of migratory birds. The birdlife, represented by over 200 species, therefore constitutes the most significant naturalistic element of the Reserve.
Among the Anatidae, it is easy to observe the Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope), the Northern Pintail (Anas acuta), the Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), the Garganey (Anas querquedula) and the Common Pochard (Aythya ferina); the Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca), one of the four Italian species most threatened with extinction, has also been reported sporadically. There are also numerous species of waders including the Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), the Black Godwit (Limosa limosa), the Curlew (Numenius arquata) and the Little Plover (Charadrius dubius). It is not infrequent to meet numerous species of herons including the gray heron (Ardea cinerea), the great white heron (Casmerodius albus), the little egret (Egretta garzetta), the squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides) and, more sporadically, the rare Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea). Also present, but more difficult to observe, are the Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) and the Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), with nocturnal habits. Among the other species present, the Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), which has become the symbol of the Reserve, the spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), the common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), the hoopoe (Upupa epops) and, among the birds of prey, the Marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus), Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and the rare Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
The Manfria Tower was part of the warning system of coastal towers in Sicily, built according to the instructions of the Florentine architect Camillo Camilliani.
It stands on a hill overlooking the hamlet of Manfria and is visible from the entire Gulf of Gela. It is currently privately owned and is in a fairly good state of conservation, except for the terrace which has some parts of the cornice now destroyed. It should be noted that it is one of the largest Camillian towers, it is in fact about 15 meters high with a base of about 12.50 meters. It was also known as the tower of Sferracavallo, but Francesco Maria Emanuele Gaetani, Marquis of Villabianca, in his Palermitan Diaries reports that it was also called Torre d’Ossuna. Its construction began in 1549, during the vice-reign of Giovanni De Vega. The date, which is not entirely certain, can be deduced from the fact that Tiburzio Spannocchi in his survey draws it with the same truncated conical base as the Mulinazzo Tower in Cinisi, which had certainly already been built in 1552 under the viceroy Giovanni De Vega.
In 1578 it was mentioned as being located in Contrada Sferracavallo, and not completed, so much so that it was suggested that: and it will be necessary to furnish it by raising it about two canes more…. In 1578, therefore, the construction was resumed and completed to a design by the Florentine architect Camillo Camilliani, who mentions it twice on the occasion of his preparatory studies, for which he prepared a watercolor showing the circular-shaped tower with a base suitable for defense as it in correspondence to the north with the Castle of Butera, and to the east with the Castle of Gela, while to the west it was with the Castle of Falconara. In the first quarter of the 17th century the tower was almost completely rebuilt until it assumed its present appearance, and probably, Villabianca infers, thanks to the impulse of the viceroy Pedro Giron, duke of Ossuna. From the archives of the Deputation of the Kingdom of Sicily, it appears that starting from the eighteenth century, in the years 1717, 1757, 1797, the garrison of the tower was composed of four soldiers and a superintendent chosen among the knights of the city of Terranova (Gela). In 1804 from the same source it was placed under the supervision of Don Mariano Carpinteri and Gravina, from Terranova, who in 1805 had the external access staircase built, with two ramps, which still exists today. In 1867 it was included in the military works to be decommissioned. The tower is linked to the legend of the giant Manfrino, good and unfortunate, guarding a hidden treasure, born from the discovery of Greek and Roman coins in the area and a rock formation, no longer visible today, interpreted as his footprint left in the rock .