The SCI Vallone S. Elia (440 ha) is located in the north-eastern part of Calabria, in a complex of hills that slope down to the Ionian coast away from the highest mountains of the Apennine range which, just slightly further south-west, form the Sila plateau.
The environment is mainly covered by cultivations, pastures and olive groves, and covered by patches of holm oak, scrub, shrub forests and xeric grasslands; at the bottom of the valley there is riparian woodland.
In the breeding area are the only pair of Egyptian vulture remaining in Calabria.
