The protected area

The Natural Reserve "Lago di Sibolla", established by the Province of Lucca in 1996, covers an area of about 60 hectares and falls entirely within the Commune of Altopascio.

The Province of Lucca manages the Reserve directly with the help of a Technical and Scientific Committee suggested by the Universities of Pisa and Florence.

The Nature Reserve Regulations impose constraints and ordinance on the country planning for buildings, urbanistics and infrastructures, on the use of resources and the soil, as well as through directives governing the custody and development of the environmental, naturalistic and scientific values of the area.

The following in particular are forbidden: building of new constructions; agriculture, animal rearing or grazing other than by traditional methods; shooting and fishing; gathering and removal of peat and sphagnum; introduction and adoption of any type of means which may alter the biogeochemical cycles; motor-navigation; any type of operation which may affect surface and underground water supplies.

Lake Sibolla has been registered as "a biotope of great vegetation interest and meriting conservation" by the Italian Botanical Society (Società Botanica Italiana 1971) and by the National Council for Research (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche 1972).