It is not a popular legend, just outside Torino there is an island of incomparable beauty. Surrounded by green hills and the clear waters of the Po river and the Stura di Lanzo, the Bertolla island is be admired also for its unique ecosystem.
The undisputed protagonist of the island is the grey heron: the only urban colony present throughout Italy, the second in Europe after that of Amsterdam.
On the island there are about eighty nests, built on tall poplars that were buried years ago to produce lumber.
But the island offers many treasures: in addition to the herons, the willows, poplars and alders host as many as 150 species of birds. The cormorant, belonging to the family of pelicans, and then ducks of all kinds, waders, mallards, gulls and grebes.
