Located facing the sea, at the north entrance to the city of Alicante, the Sierra de San Julian or Serra Grossa covers an area exceeding 80 hectares, framed within a perimeter of 5 kilometers. This geographical-environmental landmark, used by humans since Prehistory and decisive in the development of the City, is currently conceived as an urban forest park where forest repopulation and landscape restoration works are carried out to promote its use as a natural space.

In the Serra Grossa there is an excellent representation of the main plant communities typical of the mediterranean coast. One of the most important is the Alicante thorn scrub, composed of the dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis), the black hawthorn (Rhamnus lycioides) or the Osyris (Osyris lanceolata), among others, as well as all their stages of succession. On the sunniest slopes appear the esparto grasslands of common esparto (Stipa tenacissima) and albardine (Lygeum spartum), an interesting community very well adapted to the harsh conditions of drought and strong sun exposure that prevail in these habitats. The more open and flat areas are occupied by thyme scrublands of the genera Thymus sp. and Teucrium sp. and by grasslands of grasses, fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and different species of thistles. We can also observe typical plants of rocky outcrops, such as the rock pennyroyal (Teucrium buxifolium subsp. rivasii ), the cats claw (Sedum sediforme) or the caper bush (Capparis spinosa).