A CatholicIn the heart of Adriatic coast, there is the largest aquarium in the Adriatic (and the second largest in Italy). It is the Cattolica Le Navi Aquarium, inaugurated in 2000 and loved by young and old.
What to see at the Cattolica Aquarium
At one time, “Le Navi” was a marine colony. Designed by the architect Clemente Busiri Vici, and inaugurated in 1934, that colony is now the home of the Cattolica Aquarium. A must for anyone on holiday in Emilia Romagna. A real must for gloomy days, but also an interesting destination for a weekend of discovery and wonder. Because, its tanks have never stopped growing. And they guard today sharks more than three meters long and tiny colorful fish, turtles and penguins. There are four routes that the Cattolica Aquarium offers:
- blu, a full immersion in the history and biological evolution of the planet among sharks and penguins, stingrays and jellyfish
- yellow, to get to know the smallest otter in the world up close
- green, between snakes and amphibians
- violet, to discover the strangest creatures on the planet
Upon reservation, it is then possible to book a trip behind the scenes of the aquarium, a meeting with a scuba diver, or the "The Secrets of the Reptilian" path to get to know the survival strategies of snakes, iguanas and saurians up close.
Who can you meet at the Cattolica Aquarium? All those small and large fish that populate the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea. The central basin with its 700 thousand liters of water is the home of the bull sharks and to the nurse sharks while, not far away, it is possible to meet the Humboldt penguins which - originally from Peru and Chile - came here from structures that deal with safeguarding and conservation. The portholes instead overlook the Jellyfish to Quadrifoglio and on Cassiopeia andromeda. Finally, the touch tank (currently closed due to Covid-19) allows you to touch different organisms, starting with the Trigons (up to 190 centimeters long).
Close encounters
If the most exciting encounter is the one with the sharks, there are many little friends to get to know with at the Cattolica Aquarium. Eva, Costanza and Marta are three sisters: they are otters with small oriental claws, native to the rice fields of Southeast Asia. And they are really very small. How very small is the Dwarf Caiman, the smallest specimen of alligator with its 150 centimeters in length when adult. Then there are snakes, from a few centimeters to 10 meters long, chameleons, iguanas, geckos, lizards. To finish with the exhibition "Abissi terra aliena" with the giant squid (13 meters long) as the protagonist.
Photo source: Facebook page of the Cattolica Aquarium
