II Parco dei Gessi e Calanchi dell’Abbadessa includes a strip of chalk outcrops, which have given rise to an extremely interesting karst complex, one of the largest in Emilia-Romagna.

The park is located on the first hillsides southeast of Bologna, between the Savena, Zena, Idice and Quaderna streams, and encloses a composite territory in which the spectacular Messinian gypsum outcrops and the characteristic gullies of Passo dell’Abbadessa, a geomorphological phenomenon of erosion of the superficial layers of the ground that occurs due to the effect of water flowing over clayey rocks, stand out.

Due to the karst nature of the selenite gypsum (also used for the medieval walls of Bologna), dolines, blind valleys, swallow holes, and candle erosions are observed in these areas, and the entrances to more than 100 caves are concealed, including the very famous Farneto and Spipola caves. The fauna is rich and the flora is characteristic with a rich biodiversity.