Turtles in Roseto degli Abruzzi

Roseto degli Abruzzi, 14 September 2013. It would seem like a normal day at the end of summer, but something catches Mrs Giulia's attention: unbelievably, a baby turtle pops out of the sand. It is, but she finds out later, a specimen of 'caretta caretta', a rare and endangered species, and in the middle of the beach there is a turtle nest. A simply incredible and beautiful thing. Never before has there been such nesting in the north, and moreover in a heavily man-made area.

For what is puzzling is that the eggs remained under the sand throughout the summer, while all around was holiday chaos. Who knows how many times they must have risked being crushed by an umbrella stuck in the sand . Yet now they are there and there really is something miraculous about them.

The 'precocious' little turtle, named Giulia after her rescuer, is being sheltered at the Centro Studi Cetacei in Montesilvano while they wait for the other eggs to hatch. Around the nest, transennaded and protected, are scholars and volunteers who man the site 24 hours a day, but it is also a continuous coming and going of citizens in anxious anticipation. Within a few days, the first 20 turtles are born and remain under observation and are constantly monitored.
On 21 September, little Giulia is released into the sea in the presence of authorities and scientists, but above all under the gaze of the moved Mrs Giulia, who greets her protégé as she heads out to sea.

In the days that followed, the eggs continued to hatch and new turtles appeared on the beach at Roseto, providing one of nature's most fascinating and exciting spectacles, as they fled towards the sea.