A short distance from Rome, the Tuscia offers a series of pleasant walks, definable today as slow routes, offering an opportunity to admire a territory so rich in natural beauty, as well as parks and gardens.
THE VIA FRANCIGENA
An itinerary to experience while discovering the Tuscia among natural beauties, with suggestive villages, food and wine delicacies and ancient traditions thanks to the collaboration of the Municipalities crossed by this part of the ancient road that once united France to Rome, from which the name of Via Francigena was adopted or Romea. In the Municipalities of Proceno, Acquapendente, San Lorenzo Nuovo, Bolsena, Montefiascone, Viterbo, Vetralla, Capranica, Sutri and Monterosi, are indicated thanks to a functional signage, roads that the pilgrims traveled to reach the eternal city. Every year, the first week of October, the Chamber of Commerce of Viterbo organizes an assisted path that in seven days on foot leads to the discovery of breathtaking landscapes and artistic and architectural beauties crossing Tuscia from north to south along the old Via Francigena before embarking on a bus to transfer to Piazza San Pietro in Rome for the papal audience on Wednesday. An Appointment not to be missed to enjoy the walk in security and tranquility, with the wonderful hospitality of the municipalities crossed.
Via Francigena
THEMATIC ROUTES UNDER THE RUPE OF VITORCHIANO
From the valley of the statues, a green area at the foot of the village of Vitorchiano set up with statues made by local chisellers during the symposia dedicated to their art and to the local stone (the peperino), thematic routes start surrounding the cliff on which the village stands, with a total length of 10 km. The paths are formed by the religious journey, which leads to the sanctuary of St. Michael, from the nature and fitness route and from the route of the Brancaleone army. Pleasant routes with resting areas, where art, archeology and nature combine in a unique experience for trekking or mountain bike rides.
Vitorchiano
NATURALISTIC, HISTORICAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL CIRCUITS OF THE PEARLED VALLEY IN MONTEFIASCONE
The circuits wind through the caldera of Lake Bolsena under the town of Montefiascone, within the valley defined for its beauty "Perlata". Four possible routes of medium and high difficulty, from a minimum of 7 Km. to a maximum of 13 Km., among forests, springs, rural churches and archaeological ruins.
Lake Bolsena
MOUTAN BOTANICAL CENTER, GARDEN OF PEONIES
It is located on the Strada Ortana, 46, Località Il Pallone, Vitorchiano.
The Moutan Botanical Center brings together the largest collection of peonies trees in the world, 15 hectares, and Chinese herbaceous (over 200,000 specimens). It gathers about 600 different natural hybrids varieties belonging to known botanical species. The pride of the entire collection, as well as rare specimens belonging to the Delavayane group, are the adult mother plants of the Rockii species, extraordinary varieties that grow spontaneously on the plateaus of Tibet, at over 2000 meters of altitude, enduring extreme temperatures, even below -20 ° C. These are particularly rare and valuable shrubs of which the Moutan Botanical Center gathers over eighty cultivars. In the months of April and May it is possible to visit the Giardino delle Peonie, discovering these magnificent flowers that spring to life to a unique park.
THE NATURE RESERVE OF LAKE VICO
It is an area of about 3,000 hectares reaching the shores of the lake, it is enclosed in the frame of the Cimini mountains, covered for two thirds by vegetation characterized by majestic beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and the remaining from the cultivation of hazelnuts. The luxuriant flora shows us splendid examples of orchids, violets, scilla, snowdrops and lilies of St. John. Also the fauna shows rich samplings: from the buzzard to the lily, from the kite to the peregrine falcon, from the woodpecker to the tawny owl, the owl, the little owl, moving on to the aquatic species such as heron, ducks and waders. Along the paths you can meet foxes, porcupines, wild boars, rates and martens. As for the fish fauna we find the tench, the perch, the pike, the eel and the whitefish. Nature trails and parking areas for picnics offer visitors excellent opportunities to immerse yourself in nature. Always placed on the Cimini mountains at over 1,000 meters of elevation, near Soriano nel Cimino, stands the Faggeta, a large area of centuries-old beech trees. At Corchiano it is open to visitors the WWF Oasis with 500 hectares of pristine green. Here the vast repertoire of the fauna allows us to meet many species of birds such as kestrels, owls, owls and barn owls, hawks, lapwings, peaks, jays, woodcock and doves and mammals such as wild boars, foxes, porcupines and badgers.
Lake Vico
VALLE DEL TREJA SUBURBAN PARK
Moving to the Treja Valley we find the Suburban Park Valle del Treja near Calcata. An area of approx 1,000 hectares, characterized by the characteristic gorges (gorges dug by the river), is populated by foxes, porcupines and badgers and weasels, as well as hawks, kestrels, buzzards and nocturnal birds of prey.
Valle del Treja Suburban Park
MARTURANUM SUBURBAN PARK
In Barbarano Romano the Cimini Mountains park, with a vertical drop of 300 meters, from 900 meters of elevation, crosses the park area up to 600 meters in the Tolfa mountains, passing through continuous terrain changes both climatic and morphological. Here many birds find their natural habitat, such as the kite, the poiana, the kestrel, the peregrine falcon, the tawny owl, the little owl, the horned owl and the royal owl. One can also frequently meet tacks, weasels, foxes and wild boars, and sometimes the exceptional presence of the wildcat.
Fun and frequent is the meeting with Maremma cows and horses grazing in the wild.
Bassano Romano. Marturanum Suburban Park. Etruscan Tombs
NATURAL RESERVE OF THE SALINE AND VULCI PARK
On the coast of Tarquinia birds such as herons, cormorants, hawks, egrets and ducks find their refuge.
Still on the coast, going up north along the S. S. Aurelia, in Vulci (Montalto di Castro) a WWF oasis is located, a protected area of more than 158 hectares, which extends along the river Fiora, where herons, nectar, egrets, mallards, but also otters, find shelter. Returning inland, in the territory of Farnese meet the Selva del Lamone and the Lake Mezzano in Valentano. Rich and impenetrable forests, characterized by oaks and Mediterranean scrubland, extend from here to the borders with Tuscany. Large stones gathered together, called Murce, appear here and there in the undergrowth. Carrying on still in the north direction we arrive at Acquapendente, in the Monte Rufeno Nature Reserve. The area, which extends over about 3,000 hectares near the river Paglia, home to many animal species including the fallow deer, the badger, the fox, the porcupine, the marten, the wild boar and among the birds like the tack, the owl, the little owl and the jay.
The flora is also abundant and luxuriant. In the Museo del Fiore it is possible to play educational experiences or use of services that allow the discovery of nature trails of the reserve.
Descending along the Via Cassia you reach Lake Bolsena. With a perimeter of about 43 km, the caldèrico basin is the largest of the Italian volcanic lakes. Continuing towards the Tiber valley we reach the Valle dei Calanchi of Bagnoregio, formed by spiers dug by atmospheric agents forming suggestive forms.
Vulci
ITALIAN GARDENS
According to a fashion in vogue in the Italian Renaissance, the great residences worthy of such a name, began to build the so-called Italian gardens. Worthy of note are the fantastic gardens in the renaissance villas of Bagnaia (Villa Lante) and Caprarola (Palazzo Farnese), and in the Ruspoli Castle of Vignanello. The perfect union between the work of man and nature springs to life under the perfect geometries of the evergreen hedges that frame terraces and fountains in a unique living room. On the contrary, just of the same period, the fascinating Park of Monsters in Bomarzo, with its fantastic creatures carved in stone. Here irrationality and wonder, now as well as in the origin of the park, find space in the visitor's fantasy.
Vignanello. Castello Ruspoli
PALAZZO FARNESE IN CAPRAROLA
It is one of the most important works of Europe during the Renaissance. The building and the gardens are surrounded by the greenery of the Colli Cimini, halfway between Viterbo and Rome. We are located in the Alto-Lazio, near the Lake Vico. The Gardens of the Villa are located behind the building. The building has the shape of a large five-story pentagon, has a circular courtyard and a grand spiral staircase. The most important plans are the Prelates one and the noble floor. The work was commissioned at the end of the 40s of the 16th century by the young Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1520-1589) to Vignola. The five-story building-fortress was built in just twenty-five years, between 1550 and 1576. The interior is a space flaunting wealth, characterized by very big frescoes. Even the gardens were designed by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, but the construction continued until after his death (1573). The last works of the gardens were completed by the cardinal's great-grandson, Odoardo, in 1620. The gardens took advantage of the wooded tufaceous hill behind the fortress-palace. The Giardini Bassi are fastened very tightly to the space of the building, they are reachable through two bridges that climb over one moat. There are two large squares, the summer garden and the winter garden behind the building. The gardens are in hedges of meandering box and repeat the model of the sacred enclosure. Like all Italian gardens, even the gardens of Caprarola had to reflect the structure of the Universe.
Perfect because of its divine nature,the geometric garden was conceived as a microcosm, composed of geometric shapes with perfect proportions. A recurring form of Italian gardens was the square that symbolizes the Earth. In both gardens there is a cave, an important place in the Renaissance symbologies: in the summer garden the Cave of the Satyrs, in the winter one the Cave of the Tartars.
The Cave of the Tartars is a reconstruction of a cave, with a pond, water games and six Satyrs. It constituted the background for the shows that the cardinal organized to cheer his guests. From the Giardini Bassi you go up along a beautiful avenue of white firs in the Giardini Alti. The hunting park was partly transformed into a garden, on four terraces. With fountains equipped with water games and sounds, hedge mazes, and sculptures.
After the death of Vignola (1573), Giacomo del Duca, an appreciated assistant of Michelangelo and Giovanni Antonio Garzoni from Viggiù took over. The Fountains of the Giardini Alti of Villa Farnese and the Casina of Pleasure: The first fountain on the path is the Fontana del Giglio that collects in its circular tank the water that descends from the Dolphin Chain. You climb the large two-step staircase. The look is intentionally captured by the high side pavilions up to the second shelf of the Fontana dei Fiumi. To the the center of a semicircular double staircase is a large basin and a huge chalice shaped peperino vase, surmounted by two large sculptures. These symbolize the Tiber and Arno rivers.
You get to the third terrace, of the Casina del Piacere (1584-86), an elegant two-story frescoed building. Towards the last years of his life, the Cardinal loved to retire here from the busy life of the palace. Around the frescoed house there are labyrinths of boxwood with fountains and sculptures carved by Pietro Bernini, father of the famous Gian Lorenzo.
Caprarola. Palazzo Fanese. A fountain
After the cardinal's death in 1589, his great-grandson cardinal Odoardo was to overview the completion of the works. He commissioned his trusted architect, Girolamo Rainaldi (1620). Rainaldi perfected minutely the work of the predecessors, redefined the spaces, improved the water games and added the 28 caryatids. From the bottom of the two squares hedges of the level of the Casina del Piacere, two symmetrical staircases lead to the fourth and last terracing, where an octagonal fountain rises. From here an avenue perpendicular to the building rises between the large side lawns decorated with sculptures and fountains with big masks.
The fountains are fed by an underground gallery, the Farnesian aqueduct, which draws directly at the sources of the Cimini Mountains. It also provided for the water needs of the complex.
Caprarola. Palazzo Farnese
VILLA LANTE IN BAGNAIA
It offers the most complete example of Italian Gardens, with innovative solutions in Water management design and shapes. Villa Lante was built in the second half of the XVI century, probably on the project of Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. With further interventions by Pirro Ligorio. So much water carved from the fountains in various forms: in cascade, in stream, in games and water jokes. Wherever you look, you notice the glitter of flowing water from top to bottom, through five levels of fountains. From the vantage points you can admire the panorama of the village of Bagnaia and of the terraces. Among the latter, the Square of the Moors divided into sixteen squares with the circular Moors fountain, full of symbolic meanings. Like all Italian gardens, even that of Villa Lante wants to reflect the structure of the universe, perfect, because of divine nature. Cardinal Giovan Francesco Gambara Instead of a building a “villa" he built two twins: the Palazzina Gambara (1568-1578) and the Palazzina Montalto (1590-1612) with the loggias and the important fresco cycles of the rooms.
Bagnaia. Villa Lante
THE PARK OF MONSTERS OR SACRO BOSCO OF BOMARZO
Under the village of Bomarzo, in a valley sprinkled with boulders of volcanic rock, was built the most singular garden in the history of the architecture of the gardens: gigantic statues carved in the peperino, huge pagan gods, vases as big as elephants, improbable hanging constructions, exotic, scary animals masks with gaping jaws that invite to enter their mouth, talking statues, fake ruins, sphinxes and dragons, arouse amazement and wonder in the visitor who comes across the park's facilities, all of a sudden, amid the leaves of the bushes and trees. The garden, called by its creator and client, Pier Francesco Orsini (1545-1585) the "Boschetto", was modeled according to the Mannerist culture and taste of the late Renaissance, "...fond of giants, of monsters, of stage inventions that prelude to the Baroque, with the will to try to be everything, to pretend himself in a thousand guises, plant, animal, west and east, to surprise himself with masks and disguises." Orsini, a man of refined culture and a lover of mysteries, added his own imagination and his own experience, in the manner of the artistic expression of his era. The Parco dei Mostri dominated from above by the Tempietto built by Pier Francesco in memory of his wife, imitates a enchanted forest or a dark forest, - a place suitable for a spiritual journey -, a garden full of admirable works of art, bearer of symbols. The visitor is invited to cross this wood and to orientate it according to the indications of the Orsini who speak to him through the statues and structures of the park, accompanied from inscriptions. Sometimes we remain disoriented in this microcosm where Vicino Orsini, wanting to subvert the rules of the artistic expression of the Renaissance, makes the world look under some perspective deformations, in which the proportions are disproportionate, way too large or too small. And a theatrical world that the visitor will discover dissolving riddles, having fun, experiencing irresistible sensations, entering the House leaning, entering the Orco’s mouth, exploring an artistic, cultural and spiritual journey.
Bomarzo. The Sacro Bosco
