The Eraclea Mare pine forest: walks, play and protected nature for your children

When a family comes to view a home in Eraclea Mare, sooner or later someone points at the pines from the window and asks: “Can the children go there?” Behind that question lies a very particular idea of summer: children heading out on foot, shade a short walk away, somewhere to play without crossing busy roads.

Many listings answer with two words: green lung. I prefer to answer you with the documents, because the Eraclea Mare pine forest has an official identity card, and anyone who reads it understands within minutes what to expect and what not to.

In this guide you will find what the pine forest is according to public sources, and what your children can do there, under which rules. Then we look at what nobody can promise you about the air and the climate, and at how to assess a home near the trees before you sign.

What the Eraclea Mare pine forest is

The Eraclea Mare pine forest is a wood of stone pine (Pinus pinea, also known as umbrella pine) planted by people on the ancient dunes of the coast, and it is part of a European protected area. The official Natura 2000 Standard Data Form describes it as a “planted pine forest” (pineta d'impianto), with a belt of juniper in front of it, grown on a system of relict dunes behind the beach.

That word, planted, means the pine forest was put there by people. The form does not call it “centuries-old”, as listings often do, and gives no age for it. Today the law treats it as a habitat to be conserved.

The protected area it belongs to is called “Laguna del Mort e Pinete di Eraclea”. It is a Special Area of Conservation (in Italian Zona Speciale di Conservazione, ZSC) of the European Natura 2000 network, with the code IT3250013. It includes the pine forest, the dunes and the small lagoon that opens to the west of Eraclea Mare, towards the mouth of the Piave.

For a family this has an immediate practical consequence: the pine forest has paths, fences and rules, and it pays to know them before you arrive with the children.

A site protected by the European Natura 2000 network

The site was proposed as a Site of Community Importance (Sito di Importanza Comunitaria, SIC) in 1995 and was designated a Special Area of Conservation by ministerial decree of 27 July 2018, published in Italy's Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale) no. 190 of 17 August 2018. The framework is the European Union's Habitats Directive, 92/43/EEC.

In everyday terms: the dunes and the pine forest are protected for what they are, and their conservation comes before the convenience of people out for a walk.

How big the protected area is and what it contains

The Special Area of Conservation “Laguna del Mort e Pinete di Eraclea” covers 214 hectares, according to the Natura 2000 Standard Data Form filed with the Italian Ministry of the Environment. It holds several different environments: the pine forest on the dunes, fixed dunes with grassy vegetation, shifting dunes near the sea and the lagoon.

These are the main habitats, with the area given in the form:

Source: Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, Natura 2000 Standard Data Form for site IT3250013 (December 2024 update). The habitat names are those of Annex I of Directive 92/43/EEC.

The table explains something you cannot see from the path. In the form the largest habitat is the lagoon, and the second is the pine forest, which lives together with the dunes that separate it from the sea. When a child runs down a grey dune to reach the beach first, they are crossing one of the habitats the site exists to protect.

The plants and birds you can show your children

The form also lists the species that make the site important, and with a little patience you can see many of them. In the lagoon the bed is partly covered by seagrass meadows, while along the edges grows the salt-loving vegetation of the barene, the lagoon's salt marshes, with Salicornia veneta. On the dunes lives Stipa veneta, a grass found only on the shores of the northern Adriatic.

As for birds, the document states that the lagoon is important for the migration and wintering of waterbirds such as waders, ducks and grebes. The species listed include the little egret, the common tern, the little tern and the red-backed shrike. I describe what you can see in the lagoon in October and November in my guide to Eraclea Mare out of season.

For a six- or seven-year-old, spotting a white little egret wading through shallow water is worth more than many lessons. I suggest bringing light binoculars and a small bird guide: the walk becomes a treasure hunt that leaves no trace.

Why the pine forest has fences and boardwalks

The fences and boardwalks you find on the way to the sea let people walk without trampling the dunes. In Eraclea Mare they are also part of the work of a European project, LIFE Redune, coordinated by Ca' Foscari University of Venice. The project, launched on 1 September 2017, worked on restoring dune habitats at four Natura 2000 sites on the Veneto coast.

One of the four sites is “Laguna del Mort e pinete di Eraclea”. The project's official website lists the work planned here. It is worth knowing about if you will spend your summers here with your children.

When a parent asks me why you cannot cut straight through the pines to the beach, the answer is in this list. The fences protect the dunes where the project planned to remove an invasive plant by hand and to strengthen Stipa veneta. People constantly walking over the dunes is exactly what the project was trying to limit.

There is an upside for a family too. A route marked out with a boardwalk is easier with a pushchair and easier for a small child to follow. And the panels turn the walk into something to read together.

What your children can do in the pine forest, and under which rules

In the pine forest your children can walk, play in the shade, watch plants and birds and get to the sea along the marked paths. In the protected area, the fences and signs come first. For public green spaces there is also Eraclea's municipal regulation on civic conduct (Regolamento comunale delle attività civiche).

The council's regulation, in the version last amended on 2 March 2017, has an article on parks, gardens, flower beds and tree-lined avenues. It forbids picking plants and flowers, climbing trees, walking on flower beds and disturbing wildlife. It also forbids driving or parking vehicles on grassed areas and areas not intended for traffic.

For a family on bikes the meaning is simple: in public green spaces you cycle where traffic is allowed, on roads and paths. In the protected area the signs tell you where you may go: if a path is not marked for bikes, you get off and walk.

Source: Comune di Eraclea (Eraclea town council), Regolamento di disciplina delle attività civiche, articles 22 bis, 13 sexies and 46.

The dog, the bike and the play areas

Many families who buy in Eraclea Mare have a dog, and the pine forest is the first place they think of taking it. In the protected area, follow the signs. In the council's public areas, the regulation allows pets in public spaces, including parks and gardens, but always on a lead and with someone able to control them. Dogs may not enter fenced and signposted children's play areas.

Then there is a rule that always surprises someone: a dog may not be walked on a lead pulled along by a bicycle. If you picture a bike ride with the dog running alongside, it is not allowed in the council's public areas.

With older children it helps to explain the age-12 rule for play equipment at home: that way you avoid arguments in front of the younger ones' slide.

Collecting pine cones and wood

The pine cone is every summer's souvenir from the pine forest, and here a clarification is needed. The regulation requires council permission to remove pine cones from public trees. Picking up one that a child finds on the path is another matter, and the text does not mention it.

Wood is a different story. The customary right (uso civico) to gather dry wood and fallen branches belongs to people who are resident and living in the municipality, and it excludes protected woodland and beaches. Before collecting wood, even as a resident, ask the council where it is allowed.

Microclimate and clean air: what can be said and what cannot

There are no public measurements of the air in the pine forest that would allow anyone to promise you a microclimate or a health benefit for your children. There is the shade of the pines, which anyone can feel on their skin on a July afternoon; to talk about a microclimate you would need a measurement.

It is a question I hear often, so I looked for the data. The only air-quality campaign by ARPAV, the Veneto regional environmental agency, in the municipality of Eraclea dates from 2020 and was carried out in the main town, in Via Largon, not in Eraclea Mare. There, ozone and fine particulates were found to be at critical levels, as in much of the province.

That figure does not describe the pine forest, so I use it neither to alarm nor to reassure you. It tells you one honest thing: anyone who promises you healing air in the pine forest has no measurement to back it up.

I care about this point for a practical reason: people who buy on the strength of a wrong idea are disappointed at the first sign, while those who know what they will find enjoy the pine forest for years.

Buying a home near the pine forest: how to assess it

Closeness to the pine forest is measured on foot. What counts is a home a few minutes' walk from the paths, with easy access and no busy roads to cross. For a family with children that is worth far more than a home that is “in the pine forest” only in the listing.

On price, the official reference is still the Osservatorio del Mercato Immobiliare (OMI), the property market observatory of the Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy's revenue agency. For zone E6 Eraclea Mare, in the first half of 2026, a standard residential home in normal condition is valued at €1,700 to €2,000 per m², and in excellent condition at €2,400 to €3,100 per m². The OMI does not distinguish homes near the pine forest from the others: the difference comes from the property's condition and its actual location. To work out what a second home by the sea really costs, taxes included, start from these figures.

That is why, when a family asks me to see homes near the trees, I always suggest the same tour. You will find it below, so you can do it again on your own.

The second step is the one that weighs most in daily life. Two homes can be the same number of metres from the pine forest, yet one has the path behind its gate and the other a road to cross with a child by the hand.

If you are deciding between a flat and a house with a garden, the pine forest changes the calculation. With public green space close by, a small garden may be enough, because the space to run around is outside the gate. We come back to this in detail when we compare a one-bedroom flat and a small house in Eraclea Mare.

Why the pine forest matters when choosing a second home

The pine forest matters because it changes the way a family uses its seaside home. With a protected area a few minutes' walk away, the day at the beach is joined by the early-morning walk, play in the shade in the afternoon and the evening stroll towards the lagoon.

Then there is the sea. Eraclea Mare has held the Blue Flag since 2007, confirmed again in 2026, an award for water quality and environmental management. ARPAV rates its bathing waters as excellent. Pine forest, dunes and lagoon belong to the same stretch of coast, as does the cooking of the lagoon and the shoreline, and buying here means buying into that setting too.

I cannot tell you that the pine forest makes a home a good deal, because I have no figure to prove it. In the agency I see that people who choose Eraclea Mare for their children are looking above all for space and calm, and the pine forest is where that space becomes visible.

A green space to get to know before you buy

The Eraclea Mare pine forest is part of a 214-hectare European protected area. Inside it are the planted stone pine forest, dunes protected by a restoration project and a lagoon that matters for birds that migrate and winter there. For your children it means walks, shade, nature to watch and a few rules to learn together.

It has its rules, and no measurement says its air cures anything. In return it is a real environment, protected by law, a few steps from many homes in Eraclea Mare.

If you want to know which homes really let you enjoy the pine forest every day, ask ma.re.blu for homes near the pine forest and come and see them with us. We will do the walk from the front door to the first path together, at your pace and with no obligation.

If you would like to try this life for a season, look at the rentals in Eraclea Mare and the residences in the area.