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The first Italian nests of the endangered Loggerhead sea turtle have begun to hatch along the coast of Calabria, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Italy said Monday. Around 60 babies scrambled for the waves after hatching from the sand on Galati beach, near Reggio Calabria, on
Sunday night, while a second nest on Sant'Andrea Apostolo dello Jonio hatched on Monday in front of a crowd of curious sunbathers.

According to WWF Italy's turtle chief Paolo Casale, Calabria hosts the largest number of Loggerhead nests in the country: over the last five years, 60 out of 86 nests (or 70%) have been dug on the shores of the southern region. Nests are also found in the neighbouring regions of Puglia and Sicily - especially the islands of Linosa and Lampedusa - and Sardinia. Loggerheads, also known as Caretta Caretta, are among the biggest marine turtles, sometimes measuring more than four feet in shell length and weighing up to 400 pounds. They have large heads, hence their name, and strong jaws. Their mating occurs in open water and, unlike with other turtle species, it often takes place some distance from the shore.

Females lay between 40 and 190 eggs per clutch. Their major nesting grounds apart from the Mediterranean are in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, particularly off the coast of Florida and South Carolina.”

Shipwrecks in the seas surrounding the ''toe'' of Italy's boot are casting up details of long-forgotten battles and trade routes, thanks to the pioneering work of a dedicated local diver and historian.

Francesco Scavelli has been scouring the waters off the coast of Calabria for ten years, piecing together the history and final moments of dozens of wrecks from all periods of history. ''This is an ongoing research project,'' said Scavelli, whose team starts each exploration with a series of dives. Scavelli then turns to national and international shipping and navy archives, which he spends weeks perusing.

Calabria has for centuries been a popular staging post for ships travelling between North Africa and Europe, and Scavelli's dives have uncovered many trade ships once laden with goods. But the seas around the Italian toe have also been a key military target over the years, particularly during World War II.

The waters off southern Italy formed part of two vital European battle routes passing through the Strait of Messina during World War II, one leading to the Balkans, the other to Africa. The area witnessed dozens of battles over convoys transporting supplies and provisions to troops on the front.

The remains of British, French, German, Italian, Greek and Cypriot vessels all lie on the Calabrian seabed, which now has the highest concentration of battle-wrecked ships anywhere in the world after Pearl Harbour.

One particularly interesting discovery from an earlier era was the remains of two vessels, one English, the other Spanish, that were wrecked in the early 1800s. After a long, fierce battle, they succeeded only in sinking each other and both now lie on the Calabrian seabed, complete with their 140 cannons.
''The entire world has passed through Calabria's seas at one point or another,'' Scavelli concluded.

''The extremely high concentration of wrecked ships here clearly indicates the crucial role Calabria's waters have played in international navigation throughout the ages''.
A series of valuable archaeological finds have been pulled from the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas off Calabria over the years.

The most famous of these, the Riace Bronzes, were discovered by an amateur scuba diver in 1972. The pair of breathtaking fifth-century BC Greek sculptures are today considered one of Italy's greatest archaeological treasures.

A Greek temple has been found in the sea in front of Reggio Calabria's main railway station. A team of police divers and archaeologists said the temple was probably the famous Temple of Artemis in the 8th-century BC Greek city of Reghion, Reggio Calabria's ancestor. Archaeologists at Reggio Calabria's famous Magna Graecia Museum said there were historical records of such a temple in Reghion but they could not yet say whether it was this one. The city's coastline has moved since ancient times, sinking parts of Reghion beneath the sea.