The jellyfish in Albarese

The beach of Alberese is one of the wildest and most unspoilt locations of the Uccellina Park. Among the marine species that inhabit its waters, you can often notice a type of fish whose presence is not always welcome: jellyfish. We would like to tell you a charming romantic legend that perhaps will make you think about them in a different light.

Legend has it that that Narba, a gaunt and pallid girl from Alberese, used to spend great amounts of her time on the beach looking out to sea. We do not know the reason for her longing, though she was probably waiting for her lover to return. During her long days on the beach, the girl tried to shelter from the sun with the leaves that she collected from the vegetation on the borders of the beach.

The Sun was disappointed by the girl’s reticence: since she did not want to be caressed by its rays, the sun tried in every way to turn her round in order at least to find out what she looked like. He tried to shine with all its strength so as to penetrate with its powerful rays the vegetation that the girl used to protect herself with. Any attempt, however, was in vain. The Mistral offered to help and began to blow: it shifted a bit of sand, caused some fluttering in the juniper berries and shook the umbrella of branches that the girl was holding over her head but nothing more. The Libeccio also decided to help the Sun using his prodigious strength to turn the girl round. He puffed out his cheeks and began to blow: he managed to blow away the branches over Narba’s head but shook the beach so much that the slender girl flew into the waters and sank in the depths of the sea.

The Sun was finally happy, as he had reached his goal, but the Moon, seeing the girl disappear in the waters, was deeply sad. She brought her back to the surface and built her a sun umbrella made with her pale rays so that the girl could still shelter from the sun. And that is how the jellyfish with the opalescent umbrella-shaped bell was created. Make sure you think of this legend whenever you see jellyfish swimming in the blue sea of Alberese!