Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The Monterano Regional Nature Reserve covers 1,085 hectares in the territory of the comune of Canale Monterano, in the province of Rome, about 50 kilometers north of the capital, between the Tolfa Mountains and the western slope of the Sabatini Mountains. The managing body is the Comune of Canale Monterano, based at Piazza Tubingen 1. The protected area's telephone contact is 06 9962724, the emergency number is 334 110 64 34, and the email address is riservamonterano@regione.lazio.it. Access to the trails is free and requires no ticket. The starting point of all three itineraries marked by the body is the Diosilla parking area, a little over a kilometer from the center of Canale Monterano along the road that descends toward the ditch. By car you reach it from Rome via the Cassia Veientana and the Braccianese. By public transportation you get off at Manziana-Canale Monterano station on the FL3 line and continue by Cotral bus. Along the routes there are no drinking fountains or refreshment points: you bring water from home, and in summer half a liter per person is not enough.

Anyone looking for the ancient ruined city and the modern town will find two dedicated guides: the one on the abandoned settlement of Monterano and the one on the comune of Canale Monterano. Here the subject is another: the protected territory, its geology, its trails, its flora and its fauna.

What the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM) is and why it was established

The reserve was born with regional law no. 79 of December 2, 1988, published in the Official Bulletin of the Lazio Region on December 23 of the same year. The original perimeter protected about 900 hectares. Five years later, regional law no. 62 of November 15, 1993, devoted to the protection of wetlands, extended its boundaries to the present area, which the regional portal of protected areas gives as 1,085 hectares.

At the start the area fell into a now-superseded category, that of the so-called partial reserves: a formula that signaled the will to protect certain specific values of the territory more than the whole environmental system. The classification has changed, the substance has remained. The Monterano Nature Reserve protects together things that are usually found separate: a stretch of Apennine river flowing in a gorge, a still-active solfatara field, an Etruscan necropolis, the ruins of a Baroque city and a mosaic of woods and pastures that hosts 142 recorded vertebrate species.

The territory of the protected area is part of the wider Tolfa-Cerite-Manziate morphological district and falls within the Site of Community Importance IT6030001, called Middle Course of the Mignone River. It is not a bureaucratic detail: it means that the tuff river gorges and the riparian formations you see walking along the Bicione are habitats recognized at European level, and that their conservation answers to obligations that go beyond the goodwill of the comune.

The boundary follows the course of the Mignone from the locality of Sassone, in the territory of Canale Monterano, to the tuff plateau on which the village of Rota stands, in the comune of Tolfa. In between are deep valleys, grazing plateaus, Turkey oak woods and a modest overall elevation change: you go from the 163 meters of the valley floor to the 340 of the ridges. No mountain, then. And yet the landscape has a harshness that surprises those who arrive thinking of the tamed Roman countryside.

In our judgment the Monterano Nature Reserve is the protected area of northern Lazio that pays off most for the effort required. Three hours of easy walking give back an extinct volcano, a river in a gorge, a waterfall, a solfatara and a dead city. Few Italian reserves concentrate so much in so little space.

Where the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM) is and how to get there

Canale Monterano is one of the comuni of the far north of the metropolitan city of Rome, right at the border with the province of Viterbo. The position explains why it is reached equally from three directions, all by consular roads or their provincial branches.

By car from Rome to the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

From north Rome you leave the Grande Raccordo Anulare onto the SS 2 bis Cassia Veientana, continue to Cesano and then toward Osteria Nuova in the direction of Bracciano. From there the SP 493 Braccianese leads to Manziana and then to Canale Monterano. It is the shortest route and the smoothest on weekdays. On summer weekends the stretch around Lake Bracciano clogs up, and it is best to leave early.

From west Rome and the coast you take the SS 1 Aurelia or the motorway toward Civitavecchia, exit at Cerveteri and go up toward Bracciano and Manziana. The route is about 10 kilometers longer but avoids the Cassia entirely.

From Viterbo you go down the Cassia and, past Vetralla, you can turn off toward Vejano or take at Capranica the road to Oriolo Romano, the town of the famous beech forest. From the town of the Altieri family the signs for Canale Monterano are continuous.

From Civitavecchia there are two variants, both scenic. The first goes up to Allumiere and to Tolfa and then descends to Canale Monterano crossing the heart of the Tolfa Mountains. The second runs along the sea to Santa Severa, continues to Furbara and takes the Sasso road toward Manziana. The first is more beautiful, the second faster.

By public transportation to the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The railway is the FL3 regional line Roma Ostiense-Cesano-Viterbo, the one that locals still call Roma-Capranica-Viterbo. The useful stop is Manziana-Canale Monterano, served on a weekday by one train per hour in each direction. The station is not in town: it serves both comuni and is several kilometers from the two inhabited centers, which are connected by Cotral and Seatour buses. Anyone arriving by train must allow for a connection and check the bus schedule before leaving, because in the afternoon the runs thin out.

From the center of Canale Monterano to the Diosilla parking area the official sheet of the itinerary gives about 1.3 kilometers along the marked road. They are covered on foot in a scant quarter of an hour, downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back: a detail to remember at the end of the day, when the legs have already worked.

Where to park for the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The Diosilla parking area is the reference the body indicates for all three official itineraries. On spring weekends it fills up early, and the practical advice is to arrive by 9:00 in the morning. Anyone finding it full leaves the car in the center of Canale Monterano and walks down: you lose half an hour overall between going and coming back, but you avoid parking creatively along a narrow road where farm vehicles also pass.

The geology of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

Whoever looks at the landscape of the reserve sees two worlds that touch. On one side soft, rounded hills covered with pasture. On the other yellowish vertical walls, cut sheer over the ditches. The difference is not random and it is the key to understanding everything else: underneath there are different rocks.

The Tolfa flysch and the marine sediments

The base of the succession is marine. Over the limestone sediments are laid the so-called Tolfa flysch, alternations of sandstones, marls and clays deposited between the Cretaceous and the Paleogene, thus between 90 and 60 million years ago, on the floor of the Tethys ocean. They are intensely fractured and folded layers, pushed and piled up by the tectonic movements that built the Apennines. Where they outcrop, the relief is gentle and undulating: the rock is soft, it degrades quickly, the pasture covers it.

Above, between 5 million and 1 million years ago, the Pliocene and Pleistocene sea left blue clays and sands, with gypsum crystals that betray brackish-water environments. These clays are the reason certain stretches of trail, after rain, become a trap: they clump under the soles and do not let go.

The tuffs and peperini of the Sabatini Mountains

The eastern sector of the reserve is covered by the products of the Sabatini volcanic complex, the system of craters and calderas whose most evident remnant today is Lake Bracciano. Explosive activity began about 600,000 years ago and ended around 40,000 years ago. Among the most recognizable deposits are the banded peperini, formed about 700,000 years ago according to the regional sheet, and the red tuff with black scoriae, dated between 490,000 and 430,000 years ago: one of the most widespread pyroclastic units in northern Lazio, the one that gave building stone to half of southern Etruria.

The tuff behaves opposite to the clays. It is compact, holds a vertical wall, can be dug with simple tools. That is why the Etruscans dug tombs in it, the medieval inhabitants cellars and dovecotes, and the watercourses cut narrow gorges in it instead of open valleys.

The gorges of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The gorge is the form that makes the Monterano territory different from any other Lazio countryside. The river cuts into the tuff bank, the wall stays standing, the valley floor becomes a deep, shady corridor a few tens of meters wide. In the Bicione gorge and in that of the Mignone the phenomenon of thermal inversion occurs: going up from the bottom the temperature increases and the humidity decreases, exactly the opposite of what happens in the mountains.

The botanical consequence is spectacular and you will see it as you walk. Below, in the cool, grow species that in Lazio are usually found at much higher elevations: European hornbeam, a few isolated beeches, sycamore maple, holly, hazel. Above, 20 meters higher, the Mediterranean holm oak woodland begins. An entire vegetation belt compressed into one slope.

This is also the reason the Monterano Nature Reserve can be walked in summer, while other low-elevation hikes in Lazio in July are torture. The floor of the gorge stays cool. Not cool like a mountain beech forest, of course, but enough to make a three-hour walk possible on a day of real heat.

The solfatara of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The solfatara field is the highlight of the protected area and the reason the Lazio Region has listed it among the geosites with sheet number 53, titled precisely Solfatara di Monterano. The technical definition says it all: cold hydrothermal manifestation of sulfurous character, tied to the residual volcanic activity of the Sabatini complex.

Translated: the volcano has not erupted for 40,000 years, but the deep magma chamber keeps heating the circulating waters, which rise loaded with hydrogen sulfide and sulfur compounds. The gaseous emissions from the spring are significant and can be smelled from afar, with the rotten-egg odor that no description can make kind. The flow remains constant all year, and this suggests that the hydrothermal circuit is independent of the surface water table and of the nearby Bicione stream: the spring does not dry up in August and does not increase in November.

The point where the effect is strongest is the junction between the Fosso della Palombara and the Bicione, where the ground turns white, the vegetation thins out and yellowish crusts, milky pools and vapors rising on cold mornings remain. Anyone arriving in January at dawn finds a landscape that seems from another planet. Anyone arriving at noon in July finds white stones and a bad smell. The moment makes all the difference.

A serious warning, because the place invites foolishness: the sulfurous waters are not spas, are not swimmable, and the surface crusts can hide boiling mud and cavities. You look from the trail, you do not go in. The same gases that make the place interesting are asphyxiating in closed depressions.

The sulfur mines of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

Sulfur here was not only a geological phenomenon: it was a trade. The disused tunnels of the mines are met along the itinerary that descends from Diosilla, and the official sheet of the trail cites them explicitly among the points of interest. Today they are not visited and the entrances must not be forced, for a reason that is not only safety: the old mining tunnels and the artificial cavities of the territory host colonies of bats, among them the greater horseshoe bat, Schreibers' bent-winged bat and the greater mouse-eared bat. Entering a tunnel in winter means waking hibernating animals that have no energy reserves to pay for the disturbance.

The mining of sulfur in the Tolfa district has a long history intertwined with that of alum, the resource that made nearby Allumiere famous under the Papal State. Anyone walking on the plateaus still finds, with a trained eye, traces of yards and excavations. The reserve preserves them as industrial archaeology and as habitat, which is an intelligent way of holding together two different protections.

The Diosilla Waterfall in the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The Diosilla waterfall is the first notable element you meet descending from the parking area of the same name, and in practice it is the entrance door of the reserve. The water drops into a narrow gorge, with a fall that in rainy seasons becomes roaring and in August is reduced to a veil. Anyone who wants to see it at full flow must go between November and April: it is a waterfall fed by a small basin, and summer low water is the rule.

The Diosilla Waterfall also has a practical merit: it can be reached in a few minutes from the parking lot, which makes it the right destination for those with small children, older people or little time. You do not need to do the whole itinerary to see it.

Around the waterfall the riparian environment is at its best: black alder, willows, ferns, mosses on the damp walls. The wet rock is treacherously slippery and every year someone finds out the worst way. Smooth sneakers are a bad idea here.

The Mignone river and the waters of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The Mignone is the river that holds the whole system together. It rises in the Sabatini Mountains, crosses the Tolfa district and flows into the Tyrrhenian a little south of Civitavecchia. Its middle course is the one protected by the Site of Community Importance that largely coincides with the reserve. It is a real river, not a ditch: in winter it swells and carries things off, in summer it shrinks to connected pools.

The tributaries inside the protected area have names that recur in every description of the trails and it is worth learning them, because they are the reference points on the ground: the Bicione stream, which carves the most beautiful gorge, the Fosso della Palombara, at whose junction the solfatara manifestations open, the Fosso Rafanello, where there are a rest area and mineralized springs, the Fosso Lupo, the Fosso Lenta, along which grows an embankment vegetation that includes the tamarisk (Tamarix gallica), an unusual species at these elevations.

Then there is a small reservoir on the Mignone and there are the Mercareccia ponds, artificial bodies of water born from the former tuff quarries and renaturalized over the last decades. They are the best place in the reserve for watching waterbirds, and proof that an industrial wound, left in peace long enough, can become a habitat.

The Mignone ford appears in two of the three official itineraries. After days of rain it may be impassable and this is not a formality: cold water and current in a river in flood are a real risk. If the level is high, you turn back. The itinerary can be redone, the accident cannot.

The trails of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The body marks three itineraries, all classified E, that is, hiking: no technical equipment, no exposed passages, but natural terrain, fords and slippery stretches. All three start from the Diosilla parking area. None of the three has water points, refreshment or accommodation along the route, and none is accessible to wheelchairs.

Diosilla-Monterano Trail

The shortest and most visited: 3.5 kilometers, 80 meters of elevation gain and 50 of loss, two and a half hours of walking. It starts from the Diosilla parking area and arrives at the archaeological area of the ancient settlement of Monterano.

The route descends from the waterfall into the gorge, reaches the geothermal manifestations and the disused sulfur mines, then climbs back toward the Etruscan cut known as the Cavone and leads to the ruins, passing beside the historic aqueduct and the convent of San Bonaventura. Two and a half hours for three and a half kilometers seem a lot: they are not, because the ground is uneven and because you stop constantly.

The official provisions are clear on one point: inside the archaeological area the bans on access to unsafe zones are respected. It is not a token recommendation. Masonry abandoned for over two centuries has precarious balances and collapses do not announce themselves.

Bicione Valley-Bandita Trail

10 kilometers, four and a half hours, 200 meters of elevation gain and 150 of loss, elevations between 180 and 310 meters. Yellow trail marking, passable on foot and on horseback, with rest areas along the route and no water point.

The route crosses the Bicione valley touching almost immediately the geosite with the hydrothermal manifestations, then fords the Mignone, touches the mineralized springs along the Fosso Rafanello and meets notable archaeological remains, among them the pestarole: Etruscan-era installations dug into the rock and used for pressing grapes. Seeing them is a small coup de théâtre. On an apparently empty plateau rectangular basins with a drainage channel appear, and you suddenly understand that 2,500 years ago wine was made there.

It is the best of the three. It does not have the concentration of wonders of the Diosilla-Monterano, but it has the right rhythm: open pastures, woods, the river, rural archaeology. And you meet far fewer people.

Rafanello Valley-Tuff Area Trail

11 kilometers, three and a half hours, 240 meters of elevation gain and 150 of loss, elevations between 163 and 340 meters. Departure from the Diosilla parking area, arrival at the Fontanile della Bandita.

The route descends to the Diosilla, touches the geothermal site, follows the Bicione valley to the Mignone and then passes into the Rafanello valley, where there is a rest area at the confluence of the ditch. It includes the trail known as Sferracavalli, the Etruscan necropolis of Ara del Tufo, wooded stretches and mineralized springs. The optional extension reaches the Fontanile della Bandita through wooded pastures.

The necropolis of Ara del Tufo is worth the walk by itself. The burial chambers are dug into the tuff wall and give back, without signs and without a ticket office, what at Cerveteri is seen in monumental and organized form. Here the archaeology is still inside the woods, and the effect is different.

The flora of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The botanical richness of the protected area descends directly from the geological variety. Different rocks, different exposures, different humidity: the result is a mosaic that botanists have described by distinguishing at least seven main formations.

The riparian vegetation along the watercourses

Along the Mignone, the Bicione and the minor ditches develop the gallery formations, narrow, continuous woods that accompany the water. The guide species are black alder (Alnus glutinosa), the willows Salix alba and Salix purpurea, a few white poplars (Populus alba). They are fragile and precious environments: they hold the banks, shade the water, host amphibians and dragonflies. In the wider valley floors the riparian wood fades into European hornbeam formations with chestnut and hazel.

The microthermal vegetation of the gorges

It is the formation that makes the reserve famous among botanists. Thanks to the thermal inversion described above, the bottom of the Mignone and Bicione gorges hosts cool-climate species: European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), a few isolated specimens of beech (Fagus sylvatica) at a little over 200 meters above sea level, sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), holly (Ilex aquifolium), hazel (Corylus avellana). A beech at an elevation of 200 meters, 50 kilometers from Rome, is a rarity worth the trip.

The Mediterranean vegetation of the walls

In the summit zone of the gorges and on the vertical rocky slopes the holm oak woodland dominates: holm oak (Quercus ilex), tree heath (Erica arborea), mock privet (Phillyrea latifolia), European nettle tree on the sunniest walls. It is vegetation that lives on little soil and a lot of light, and tolerates the summer drought by shutting up shop.

The mesothermal vegetation and the oak woods

The prevailing forest environments are the Turkey oak woods (Quercus cerris), on limestone substrates and dry, slightly acidic soils, present both at the highest elevations of the reserve and on the riverbeds in contact with the alder groves. In patches of deeper, richer soil sessile oak woods (Quercus petraea) appear. In the sunniest areas those of downy oak (Quercus pubescens). On the hill slopes the mixed deciduous wood combines Turkey oak, downy oak and hop hornbeam.

Shrublands, meadows and pastures

On the sunniest volcanic slopes grows Adenocarpus complicatus, an endemic species of notable value, together with Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius). At the edge of the woods, on the steepest slopes, tree heath thickets form. On clay soils where grazing is frequent, shrublands of blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), wild pear (Pyrus amygdaliformis), dog rose (Rosa canina) and field elm (Ulmus minor) prevail. Hygrophilous meadows are also distinguished, on damp soils, and xerophilous meadows on arid soils.

Two formations deserve a separate note. Along the low embankment of the Fosso Lenta grows the tamarisk (Tamarix gallica), a plant usually associated with coastal or brackish environments. Near the springs and the outcropping water tables develops a herbaceous vegetation of sharp rush (Juncus acutus) and Agrostis canina subsp. monteluccii, with almost single-species stands of velvet bent grass on the soils mineralized by the sulfurous waters: plants that tolerate soil chemistry lethal to nearly all the others.

The wild orchids of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

From March to July the blooms of orchids of the genera Orchis, Ophrys and Serapias follow one another: from the rare Ophrys ciliata, Ophrys tenthredinifera and Dactylorhiza romana to the more common Anacamptis pyramidalis. The fact few people know concerns Monte Angiano, which according to regional documentation hosts one of the richest populations of wild orchids in Lazio: 27 species and 11 natural hybrids.

A hill pasture with 27 species is a figure that enthusiasts chase across half of Italy. If you go in April, walk slowly and look at the ground: the Ophrys are only a few centimeters tall and are stepped on without noticing. They are not picked and not dug up, and you do not need a law to understand that.

The rare ferns of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

Among the floristic highlights of the protected area, ferns hold a place of honor. Rare in Lazio are the royal fern, or flowering fern (Osmunda regalis), and the hard fern (Blechnum spicant). The understory of the Bicione gorge hosts other recorded ones: Anogramma leptophylla, hart's-tongue fern (Phyllitis scolopendrium), Polystichum setiferum and Athyrium filix-femina. Walking in the gorge in May, with the Osmunda fronds exceeding a meter, is an experience more like an Atlantic forest than the Roman countryside.

The fauna of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The watercourses, hills, caves, tuff valleys, mixed woods and pastures produce a rich and varied fauna. A total of 142 vertebrate species have been recorded, 24 of which are included in the Red Lists or in the lists of species of community interest. Historical human pressure has eliminated the large predators from the heart of the protected area, but the Tolfa district as a whole still hosts a small wolf population.

Waterbirds and the Mercareccia ponds

The bird community benefits from the wetlands: the artificial Mercareccia ponds, carved from the former tuff quarries and renaturalized, and the main watercourses. In the renaturalized areas the little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) and the moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) nest, while in winter pairs of overwintering coot (Fulica atra) are observed.

Along the Mignone, the Bicione and the minor ditches live the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), which with its colors is the sighting everyone hopes for and few get, Cetti's warbler (Cettia cetti), recognizable by ear before by eye for its explosive song, the white wagtail (Motacilla alba) and the grey wagtail.

The raptors of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The open environments, pastures and fallow lands host a notable number of diurnal raptors. The most precious is the red kite (Milvus milvus): out of an Italian population estimated at 130-150 pairs, in Lazio 3-5 are counted, all located in the Tolfa Mountains. One pair uses the territory of the reserve as a hunting area, in search of small animals or carcasses. In winter sightings increase with the arrival of overwintering individuals from central Europe.

The second raptor of great interest is the short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus), which frequents the Ranco della Bandita, Poggio Martino and the Mercareccia ponds, where it is easier to hunt the snakes that make up the basis of its diet. Seeing it hover motionless in flight scanning the pasture, with that pale head that seems to belong to another animal, is one of the best reasons to bring binoculars.

The clearings are also frequented by the kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), the common buzzard (Buteo buteo), the hobby (Falco subbuteo), the black kite (Milvus migrans), the honey buzzard and the sparrowhawk. In recent years regional documentation reports nesting of the peregrine falcon.

Birds of the open environments and embankments

On the driest pastures live smaller birds: the greater short-toed lark (Calandrella brachydactyla), a not frequent presence, the stone-curlew, the nightjar, the shrikes and the cirl bunting. The bee-eater (Merops apiaster) nests in colonies by digging tunnels in the sandy embankments of the Mignone and the Bicione, in the Mercareccia area: during migration it is recognized by its gurgling call long before its colors are seen. In the woods you meet the green woodpecker and the golden oriole. Among the ruins and rock walls the wallcreeper appears.

Amphibians and the spectacled salamander

The complex of the Bicione and Mignone gorges is the environment of greatest interest for amphibians: the plant cover guarantees preferential movement routes in the different phases of the life cycle. In the reserve nine species have been reported, about 30 percent of which are on the Red List.

The most important presence is the spectacled salamander (Salamandrina terdigitata), the only Italian endemic terrestrial vertebrate and the only living species of its genus. Anyone who finds it under a damp stone should keep in mind that it is a tiny animal, with a bright red belly, that should be left where it is: amphibian skin absorbs anything, including the sunscreen on your hands.

Among the urodeles are the great crested newt (Triturus carnifex, long indicated as Triturus cristatus) and the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris meridionalis, in the older nomenclature Triturus vulgaris meridionalis). Among the anurans the green frog, the red frogs, the agile frog (Rana dalmatina) and the Italian stream frog (Rana italica), the common toad (Bufo bufo), the European green toad (Bufotes viridis) and the Italian tree frog (Hyla intermedia).

The mammals of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The woods host wild boar, wildcat, pine marten, porcupine and badger. The wildcat is the species that most excites naturalists and that practically no hiker sees: it is nocturnal, elusive and at a glance is confused with a tabby domestic cat. In the pastures lives the Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus), an Italian endemic distinct from the European hare. The Tolfa district as a whole hosts a small wolf population, whose return to this area is one of the most significant natural-history events of recent decades in Lazio.

The bats of the mining tunnels

The old mine tunnels and the artificial cavities of the territory, together with the ruins of the ancient settlement, host a bat fauna that includes the greater horseshoe bat, Schreibers' bent-winged bat and the greater mouse-eared bat. They hunt nocturnal insects over the pastures and along the watercourses. They are, after the raptors, the group that best conveys how much the reserve depends on the fact that people left.

Fish, invertebrates and dragonflies

The waters of the reserve host the freshwater crab, the bivalve mollusk Unio and a fish fauna typical of hill streams with southern roach, chub and Italian riffle dace. The fact that amazes concerns the dragonflies: 29 species out of the 57 known for Lazio, that is, over half of the regional fauna concentrated in a little over 1,000 hectares. An index of water quality worth more than many chemical analyses.

The natural monuments and notable points of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The list of the protected area's highlights includes natural elements and man-made structures, often a few meters from each other.

• The ancient settlement of Monterano, the city abandoned in 1799.
• The solfatara of Monterano, regional geosite number 53.
• The Diosilla Waterfall.
• The Lega oaks, ancient specimens about 400 years old in the hill woods.
• The Lion Fountain, attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
• The Etruscan necropolis of Ara del Tufo and the rock-cut passages.
• The Etruscan pestarole for pressing grapes.
• The Mercareccia ponds, renaturalized former tuff quarries.

On the Lega Oak the documentation is not unambiguous: the most recent regional sources speak of two ancient specimens still present in the hill woods, while over the years the most famous historic tree has been repeatedly given up for dead. Anyone going for that specific reason should phone the body before leaving.

Rules and code of conduct in the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The reserve is managed by the Comune of Canale Monterano on behalf of the Lazio Region, and the regulations in force are published in the dedicated section of the regional portal of protected areas. The provisions you actually encounter on the trails are few and should be taken seriously.

Inside the archaeological area of the ancient settlement the ban on access to unsafe zones is in force, explicitly recalled by the official sheet of the Diosilla-Monterano itinerary. The barriers and signs are not decorative.

Along the three routes there are no drinking water points, refreshment points or accommodation: water self-sufficiency is up to the hiker. None of the three itineraries is declared accessible to people with motor disabilities.

The hydrothermal manifestations are not swimmable, the sulfurous mud is not a spa and the white crusts can give way. The entrances of the mining tunnels are not explored, both for the risk of collapse and for the presence of colonies of protected bats.

The rest is the common sense of those who frequent a protected area: no fires, no picking plants, no leaving trash, dogs on a leash in the presence of grazing livestock, and on the plateaus the livestock is really there. For organized activities, filming and particular uses of the territory, authorization must be requested from the managing body at 06 9962724.

When to go to the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

Spring is the queen season, and April is the right month: the orchids are in bloom, the watercourses still have flow, the temperature allows walking for hours and the raptors are in breeding activity. May is almost as good, with the ferns at their maximum development in the gorge.

Autumn is the second choice, and after the first rains of November the Diosilla becomes a real waterfall again. In winter the solfatara landscape with vapors in the cold air is at its peak, but the fords can be impassable and the clays make certain stretches tiring.

Summer is not to be excluded, and this is where the reserve beats almost all the low-elevation alternatives in Lazio. The floor of the gorges stays cool thanks to thermal inversion, and by walking early in the morning you avoid the heat of the open plateaus. It must be said clearly: between 11:00 and 16:00 on a July day the pasture stretches are without shade and without water, and I advise anyone against tackling them.

The day of the week matters more than the season for tranquility. A spring Sunday means a full parking lot and busy trails. A Tuesday morning means meeting three people in four hours. If you can choose, choose a weekday.

The Monterano Nature Reserve (RM) with children

With children under six the advice is to limit yourself to the descent toward the Diosilla Waterfall and the first stretch of gorge: a few minutes from the parking lot, a lot of water to look at, no commitment. From age seven up the Diosilla-Monterano itinerary is within reach, as long as you allow double the time indicated and bear in mind that the return is uphill.

What works with kids, from direct experience, is the sequence of contrasts: the waterfall, then the smell of the solfatara, then the Etruscan cut dug into the rock, then the ruins. That is four different surprises in two hours, and they hold attention better than any explanation.

Watch out for two things. The first is the proximity of the sulfurous water, which must not be touched and which children, by definition, touch. The second is the unsafe masonry of the archaeological area: in there you hold a hand, and the barricaded zones stay barricaded.

Accessibility of the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

None of the three official itineraries is classified as accessible. The trails have natural surfaces, dug steps, fords and steep stretches, and the first stretch toward the Diosilla is short but steep and irregular. Those with motor difficulties can still enjoy the landscape from the plateaus around Canale Monterano and from the scenic road that descends toward the parking area, where the view over the gorges and the ruins is already notable. For updated information on any facilitated routes it is best to contact the managing body directly.

What to see around the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

The reserve sits in the center of one of the portions of Lazio densest in things to see, and within a 20-minute drive a full day is easily built.

At Manziana, a few kilometers south, there are two places related to Monterano from the geological and natural point of view: the Caldara di Manziana, another active solfatara field with its relict birches, and the Bosco Macchia Grande, the last surviving fragment of the Silva Mantiana. Anyone wanting to understand the geology of the Sabatini should see the Caldara and the Monterano solfatara on the same day: they are two manifestations of the same phenomenon with different landscape outcomes.

To the east is Lake Bracciano with the Orsini-Odescalchi castle of Bracciano and the lakeside towns such as Trevignano Romano. To the west rise the Tolfa Mountains with the village of Tolfa and with Allumiere, the town born from the papal alum quarries. To the north, beyond the provincial border, the beech forest of Oriolo Romano replays on a large scale the botanical paradox of the Monterano gorges: beeches at elevations where they should not be.

Toward the sea, finally, the coast between Santa Severa and Civitavecchia closes the circle: from the solfatara to the beach in 40 minutes.

Frequently asked questions about the Monterano Nature Reserve (RM)

How much does it cost to enter the Monterano Nature Reserve?

Access to the trails of the Monterano Nature Reserve requires no entrance ticket and is free. Any guided visits organized by authorized operators remain paid, and must be booked directly with whoever offers them. It is best in any case to set out well equipped, because there are no refreshment points along the route.

Where exactly is the Monterano Nature Reserve?

The Monterano Nature Reserve is in the territory of the comune of Canale Monterano, in the province of Rome, at the border with the province of Viterbo. The starting point of the trails is the Diosilla parking area, reachable by car from north Rome by leaving the Grande Raccordo Anulare onto the SS 2 bis Cassia Veientana.

How much time does it take to visit the Monterano Nature Reserve?

A complete visit to the Monterano Nature Reserve, including the Diosilla Waterfall, the solfatara and the ancient settlement, takes about three hours of easy walking. It is the time indicated for the main itinerary that starts from the Diosilla parking area and goes as far as the remains of the city abandoned in 1799.

Are the trails of the Monterano Nature Reserve suitable for children?

The Monterano Nature Reserve can be visited with children, but with a bit more care than in an urban park. With children under six it is best to limit yourself to the first stretch toward the Diosilla Waterfall, while from age seven up the Diosilla-Monterano itinerary is within reach allowing double the time indicated, because the return is uphill.

Is the Monterano Nature Reserve accessible to people with motor disabilities?

None of the three official trails of the Monterano Nature Reserve is classified as accessible to wheelchairs, because the surface is natural, with dug steps, fords and steep stretches. Those with motor difficulties can still enjoy the landscape from the plateaus around Canale Monterano and from the scenic road that descends toward the Diosilla parking area.

What is the best period to visit the Monterano Nature Reserve?

Spring, and April in particular, is the best season to visit the Monterano Nature Reserve: the orchids are in bloom, the watercourses still have flow and the raptors are in breeding activity. Autumn, after the first rains of November, is the second choice, because the Diosilla Waterfall again has a significant drop.

What can you see along the trails of the Monterano Reserve?

Along the trails of the Monterano Reserve you come across the ancient settlement of Monterano, abandoned in 1799, the solfatara that the Lazio Region lists as geosite number 53, Diosilla Falls, the Lega oaks that are about 400 years old, and the Fontana del Leone attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The shortest route starts right from the Diosilla parking area.

Can you have a picnic or find a place to eat in the Monterano Reserve?

The Monterano Reserve has no water points, refreshment points or accommodation along its three official trails, all classified as hiking trails of type E. Anyone visiting the reserve therefore has to bring their own water and food, because there is no way to restock along the walk.

If you are building a multi-day itinerary based in Rome and want to include this area in an organized program, you will find the TourLeaderPro services for Rome and its surroundings. For quote requests and private experiences, the contact point is the contact page. Foreign visitors, on the other hand, need guides in English: day trips from Italian cities are collected on the page day trips in Italy, nature and mountain itineraries in mountains and nature in Italy, and the overall picture of the capital in best things to do in Rome.

A curiosity about the Monterano Reserve (RM)

The best curiosity about this area is a matter of names, and it concerns the reason why the Etruscans considered these hills a border between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The area of Manziana and Canale Monterano was consecrated to Manth, Mantus in Latin, the Etruscan god of the underworld. From that name came the Silva Mantiana, the great forest that covered the hills west of Lake Bracciano and of which the Bosco Macchia Grande of Manziana is the last preserved section.

The link between the woods and the god of the underworld is not born of a priestly fantasy. It comes from what could be seen and smelled here: a dense, impenetrable forest, and inside that forest springs of sulfurous water that boiled while cold, giving off a smell of sulfur. The Caldara of Manziana and the solfataras of Monterano were, for those who came across them 3,000 years ago, direct emanations of the underworld. Vapors coming out of the ground without fire, white and sterile soil, water that stinks of death: the theology wrote itself.

The detail that makes this fascinating is the continuity of the place name. Manziana, the name of the modern town, still preserves the root of the Silva Mantiana and therefore of the god Manth. An Etruscan god of the underworld has survived 2,500 years of history inside the name of a town in the province of Rome, and almost none of the inhabitants know it.

The reserve also preserves the landscape that generated that belief. At the solfatara field, on a January morning with vapors rising from the white ground and the vegetation stopping abruptly, the Etruscan explanation seems the most reasonable of all. It is worth arriving with this thought in mind: it completely changes what you see.

Something nobody tells you about the Monterano Reserve (RM)

Nobody will tell you that inside the reserve there is a physical phenomenon that turns the rules of the mountains upside down, and that it is the real reason this place has a flora it shouldn't have. It is called gorge temperature inversion, and it works like this: in the narrow, deep valleys carved into the tuff, cold, damp air stagnates at the bottom and cannot rise. The result is that going up from the stream bed toward the ridge, the temperature rises and the humidity drops, the exact opposite of what happens on a mountain slope.

The consequences can be read in the plants and are verifiable with the naked eye in 10 minutes of walking. On the floor of the Bicione gorge grow hornbeam, sycamore maple, holly, hazel and even a few isolated beeches, species that in Lazio are normally found above 800 or 900 meters. 20 meters higher, on the same wall, the Mediterranean holm oak wood begins, with heather and mock privet. A height difference of a six-story apartment building separates two plant worlds that are usually hundreds of meters apart in elevation.

The same physics explains why the reserve hosts ferns that are rare for Lazio, such as the royal fern and the northern holly fern, and why the undergrowth of the Bicione gorge keeps a community of pteridophytes that seems moved there from an Atlantic region. Constant humidity, stable temperature, little direct light: ferns ask for exactly this.

The practical payoff is the one that matters most to anyone walking. On a July day at 35 degrees Celsius, the bottom of the gorge is several degrees cooler than the plateau above. It is not air conditioning, but it is the difference between a walk that is possible and one that has to be put off. If you are planning a summer hike in the Monterano Reserve, set up the route so that you are in the gorge during the middle hours and on the open pastures early in the morning. It is the trick that no guide writes down and that changes the day.

The advice I give you for visiting the Monterano Reserve (RM)

There is only one piece of advice, and it is worth more than all the others put together: don't come here to see the ruins. Come to walk, and let the ruins arrive at the end, as the conclusion of a route. Anyone who drives as close as possible to the ancient settlement, photographs the aqueduct, turns back and leaves has seen one tenth of what there was to see and has understood zero of why that city was born there.

The right sequence is the Diosilla-Monterano itinerary done in full, unhurried, counting four hours instead of the two and a half indicated. You start from the waterfall, go down into the cool gorge, reach the geothermal manifestations with the smell of sulfur that announces the solfatara field before you see it, pass by the disused mining tunnels, climb back up through the Etruscan Cavone cutting inside rock cut by hand 2,500 years ago, and only then do the aqueduct and the ruins appear. At that point the reasoning closes by itself: water, sulfur, workable tuff, a dominant position. The city was there for reasons, and walking there you understand all of them.

On gear, three practical points. Hiking boots with a lugged sole, not sneakers: the wet rocks of the gorge and the clay after rain are seriously slippery. At least a liter and a half of water per person, because there are no drinking fountains along the routes. Lightweight binoculars, which here are worth more than any camera lens, because birds of prey can be seen from far away and to the naked eye remain dots.

One last thing, and it is a firm opinion: avoid Sundays in May. It is the day when half of Rome discovers the reserve, the Diosilla parking lot fills up by half past nine, and the gorge, which is only a few meters wide, becomes a corridor of people. The exact same route on a Thursday in October is a different hike and almost a different place.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely cited

That the Monterano area was a film set is something everyone knows, and everyone repeats. What almost nobody says is that the reserve was not chosen by the cinema for the ruins themselves, but for a quality of the landscape that environmental protection has made possible: the absence of contemporary signs. There are no light poles, no asphalt, no warehouses, no antennas. On those plateaus the horizon is identical to that of 300 years ago, and for a director who has to shoot exteriors for a film set in the past this is worth more than any set design.

Mario Monicelli understood this before others and came back twice. For Brancaleone alle crociate, released in 1970, and for Il marchese del Grillo, from 1981, he chose the ancient settlement of Monterano and in particular the church and convent of San Bonaventura, together with the grazing plateaus that surround the ruins. The first film needed a poor, dusty Middle Ages, the second a papal Rome of the countryside: the same place served for both without adding almost anything.

The consequence is a curious short circuit for those who arrive today. A considerable share of visitors recognize those ruins before ever having seen them, because they watched them for years on screen without knowing where they were. The church of San Bonaventura, with its gutted facade and its stumpy bell tower, is one of the most recognizable pieces of architecture in Italian cinema, and almost nobody could place it on a map.

The rarely cited fact, then, is this: the Monterano Reserve is a cultural landscape produced by abandonment. If the city had not been sacked and left to fall in 1799, if malaria had not emptied these valleys, today there would be a town here with its streets and its houses, and we would have neither the ruins nor the emptiness around them. Environmental protection has frozen an accident of history and turned it into a resource.

The right photo to take at the Monterano Reserve (RM)

The photograph everyone takes is the aqueduct with its arches backlit. It is a beautiful image and there is no reason to give it up, but it is not the photograph that tells the story of the reserve, because it tells the archaeology and leaves out nature, which is 90 percent of what surrounds it.

The right photo is another one: the solfatara field on a cold, clear morning, between December and February, half an hour after dawn. You need three conditions: cold air, no wind and low sun. When all three are there, the vapors of the gases coming out of the ground condense and become visible, light up in backlight and stand out against the white crusts of the mineralized soil and against the dark green of the woods that stops abruptly at the edge of the sterile area. You don't need a telephoto lens, you need a moderate wide angle and the patience to wait for the sun to clear the ridge.

The second photograph I recommend is inside the Bicione gorge in May, with the fronds of the royal fern in the foreground and the wall of damp tuff behind. If you have a tripod, work with long exposures and a small aperture: the light down there is low and green, and that is exactly why the result is different from any other Lazio wood.

Two technical warnings. At the solfatara the sulfurous gases attack metal contacts: whoever changes lenses in the mist notices it after a few months, and it is better to change lenses elsewhere. At the waterfall, on the other hand, the humidity dirties the front lens in a few minutes, and without a microfiber cloth you go home with a series of vaguely milky images that seemed perfect at the time.

On the tripod, one last note of common sense: on narrow trails and on the banks of ditches you stay at the edge and let others pass. The reserve is not a photo studio, and the banks of the gorge are as fragile as they look.

Some important events that happened here in history

The first event is so slow that it doesn't seem like an event, and it is the geological building of the territory. The explosive activity of the Sabatini volcanic district begins about 600,000 years ago and ends around 40,000 years ago. In between were deposited the banded peperini, dated to about 700,000 years ago according to the regional documentation, and the red tuff with black scoriae, between 490,000 and 430,000 years ago. Every vertical wall in the reserve is the result of those explosions, and the gorges are the later work of water on those deposits.

The second event is the arrival of humans. Ceramic fragments from the Bronze Age attest to a presence going back about 4,000 years. Etruscan farming communities follow, with necropolises scattered across the whole territory: the Grottino della Bandita, the Grotta di Tabacco, the Tomba della Giuliana, the necropolis of Ara del Tufo. To the same communities we owe the cuttings dug into the tuff to let roads pass and the pestarole for pressing grapes. The Roman age leaves fainter traces, with the exception of the bath complexes that exploited the sulfurous waters at Stigliano, not far away, in connection with the route of Via Clodia.

The third event is the birth of the fortified center. Around the year 1000 a watchtower is built, which then becomes a fortified residence and the keep of the castle. From there grows the medieval settlement that will be a bishop's seat and then a fief of the great Roman families.

The fourth is the Baroque season, which lasts less than a century and leaves the most visible mark. Under the Altieri and the pontificate of Clement X, Gian Lorenzo Bernini receives from the pope the commission to give the palace a new look. The design of the convent of San Bonaventura dates to the same moment of splendor. A provincial town finds itself for a few decades with architecture designed by the greatest architect of the century.

The fifth event is the end, and it is brutal. Geographic isolation and malaria slowly erode the population. Then, in 1799, a ruinous sack by French troops forces the surviving inhabitants to abandon the city for good and move to nearby Canale Monterano. From that moment the ruins stay where they are, and the woods take back what had been taken from them.

The sixth event is recent and has a precise date: December 2, 1988, when regional law number 79 establishes the reserve on about 900 hectares. On November 15, 1993, regional law number 62 expands the area to protect the wetlands, bringing it to its current size. It is the moment when abandonment stops being a defeat and becomes a protected heritage.

Who has passed through the Monterano Reserve (RM)

The most illustrious name linked to this area is that of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The greatest sculptor and architect of 17th-century Europe received from the Altieri pope, Clement X, the commission to renew the look of the palace of Monterano, and the project for the convent of San Bonaventura is also tied to the Altieri season. The Fontana del Leone is attributed to his hand, and it appears regularly in the lists of the monumental features of the protected area. It is worth remembering that Bernini attributions in the provinces should be taken with the caution they deserve: the regional documentation associates the artist's name with the work on the palace, and that is what can be stated with confidence.

Before him came the Etruscans, who made of these places an agricultural and funerary territory, and the Romans, who exploited the thermal waters at Stigliano along Via Clodia. In the Middle Ages the center was a bishop's seat, and through the centuries the fief passed through the hands of the families that shared northern Lazio, from the Orsini to the Altieri.

Then, in 1799, the French troops passed through. There are no famous names in that passage, only the sack that closed the story of the city. It is the transit that determined everything you see today.

In the 20th century the line of those who have passed through here grows longer with the cinema. Mario Monicelli came twice, in 1970 for Brancaleone alle crociate and in 1981 for Il marchese del Grillo, and with him came the crews, the actors and the extras who crowded the plateaus around San Bonaventura. They are the visitors who made this landscape familiar to millions of people who don't know its name.

Today those who pass through here are the naturalists who survey the orchids of Monte Angiano, the ornithologists who follow the few Lazio pairs of red kite, the speleologists and bat researchers who monitor the bat colonies in the mining tunnels, and the thousands of hikers who come down from Diosilla every year. They are not names for an encyclopedia, but they are the reason the reserve continues to exist as a living place and not as a fenced-off area.

Quick questions about the Monterano Reserve (RM)

How much does it cost to enter the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

Access to the trails is free and there is no entrance ticket. Any guided visits organized by authorized operators remain paid, and they have to be booked directly with whoever offers them.

Where exactly is the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

In the territory of the municipality of Canale Monterano, in the province of Rome, between the Tolfa Mountains and the Sabatini Mountains, about 50 kilometers north of the capital. The managing body is based at Piazza Tubingen 1, in Canale Monterano.

How big is the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

The regional portal of protected areas gives 1,085 hectares. The initial area, in 1988, was about 900 hectares, expanded in 1993 with the regional law on wetlands.

When was the Monterano Reserve (RM) established?

By regional law no. 79 of December 2, 1988. The expansion was ordered by regional law no. 62 of November 15, 1993.

How many trails are there in the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

The routes officially marked by the managing body are three: Diosilla-Monterano (3.5 km, 2 hours 30 minutes), Valle del Bicione-Bandita (10 km, 4 hours 30 minutes) and Valle Rafanello-Area del Tufo (11 km, 3 hours 30 minutes). All start from the Diosilla parking area and are classified E, hiking.

What is the easiest trail in the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

The Diosilla-Monterano, with 3.5 kilometers and 80 meters of elevation gain. It is also the richest in things to see, because it touches the waterfall, the solfatara, the disused mines, the Etruscan cutting and the ruins.

Can you bring a dog to the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

In regional protected areas dogs are kept on a leash, and here the rule has a concrete reason: livestock graze on the plateaus and species sensitive to disturbance live in the woods. For the precise rules it is best to consult the regulatory documents published by the managing body.

Is there drinking water along the trails of the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

No. The official sheets for the three routes indicate that there are no water points. You have to calculate your supply in full, with at least a liter and a half per person in the warm season.

Are there bars or refreshment points inside the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

None along the routes. Services are found in the center of Canale Monterano, a little over a kilometer from the Diosilla parking area.

Is the Monterano Reserve (RM) wheelchair accessible?

The official sheets for the three routes indicate no accessibility. The surface is natural and uneven, with fords, steps and steep stretches.

How much time do you need to visit the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

For the Diosilla-Monterano route alone the official time is two and a half hours, but anyone who stops to look at things takes four. For a full day with two routes you need to start early in the morning.

Can you swim in the sulfurous waters of the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

No. The hydrothermal manifestations of the solfatara field are neither equipped nor suitable for bathing, the ground can give way and the gases stagnate in the hollows. You observe them from the trail.

Does Diosilla Falls always have water?

No. The flow is greatest between November and April and drops considerably in summer. If you want to see the drop at its best, go after a rainy period.

How do you get to the Monterano Reserve (RM) by public transport?

By train on the regional line FL3, getting off at the Manziana-Canale Monterano station, then by Cotral bus to the center of Canale Monterano and on foot for about 1.3 kilometers to the Diosilla parking area.

Where do you park at the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

At the Diosilla parking area, indicated by the managing body as the starting point of the three routes. On spring weekends it fills up early and it is best to arrive by nine in the morning.

What is the best time to visit the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

April and May for the blooms, the orchids and the flow of the watercourses. November for the waterfalls. January at dawn for the vapors of the solfatara. Summer is doable if you stay in the gorges during the middle hours.

What animals can you see in the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

With a bit of luck red kite, short-toed snake eagle, common buzzard, kestrel, kingfisher, bee-eater. Among mammals wild boar, porcupine, badger, Italian hare, and in a much more elusive way wildcat and pine marten. In the waters spectacled salamander, newts, frogs and freshwater crab.

What is the difference between the Monterano Reserve (RM) and the Caldara of Manziana?

They are two manifestations of the same residual Sabatini volcanism with different outcomes. The Caldara is a solfatara field surrounded by relict birches in a flat setting and takes very little time to visit. The Monterano Reserve is a protected area of over a thousand hectares with gorges, a river, a waterfall, necropolises and ruins. The two can be visited well on the same day.

Do you need a guide to visit the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

No, the three routes are marked and within reach of anyone who walks. A nature guide does, however, radically change how the day turns out, especially in spring with the orchids and for identifying birds of prey. Anyone organizing a group outing can rely on a professional tour accompaniment service.

Is the Monterano Reserve (RM) suitable for children?

Yes, with judgment. Under six years old it is best to limit yourself to the waterfall and the first stretch of gorge. From seven up, the full itinerary to the ruins is doable if you allow generous times. The barriers in the archaeological area must be respected and contact with the sulfurous waters must be avoided.

Can you visit the ruins of ancient Monterano?

The archaeological area is crossed along the official itinerary, respecting the no-access bans on the zones declared unsafe. The guide dedicated to the abandoned settlement tells the story of the city in detail.

Can you explore the tunnels of the sulfur mines?

No. The entrances must not be forced, for safety reasons and because the cavities host colonies of protected bats, which winter disturbance can kill.

Which films were shot in the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

The area has been chosen as a set since the 1950s. The most famous films shot at the ancient settlement and around the church of San Bonaventura are Brancaleone alle crociate by Mario Monicelli, from 1970, and Il marchese del Grillo by the same director, from 1981.

Who do you contact for information about the Monterano Reserve (RM)?

The managing body, the Municipality of Canale Monterano, at 06 9962724 and 334 110 64 34 for emergencies, or at riservamonterano@regione.lazio.it. The regulatory documents and the route sheets are published on the regional portal of protected areas.

The final advice on the Monterano Reserve (RM)

If I had to name a single protected area in Lazio for someone who wants to understand how this region works, I would name this one. In three hours of easy walking you cross an extinct volcano that keeps breathing sulfur, a river that has carved a gorge into its ashes, a wood that hosts mountain species at 200 meters above sea level, an Etruscan necropolis, an aqueduct and the remains of a Baroque city abandoned two centuries ago. I don't know many places in Italy where geology, botany, archaeology and history hold hands so openly.

The final advice is to go back twice, in two different seasons. One in April, for the orchids and the water. One in January at dawn, for the vapors of the solfatara and the silence. They are two different places with the same name, and whoever sees only one takes home half the story.

Article written by the editorial team of TourLeaderPro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

Planning a trip to Rome? The guides in English for visiting the city are on ItalyPlanner.com.