Quarto Spazio proposes walking routes to discover natural paradises
Day 1 - Monterano - Montevirginio - Oriolo Romano
Difficulty: Easy
The Hermitage is located precisely on Monte Sassano, today Monte dell'Eremo. In 1651, the Orsini family subsidized the Carmelites to construct a hermitage, which was finished in 1668. This imposing building has a rectangular plan with a large internal cloister, that follows the typical structure of a Carthusian hermitages.
The via Olmata has its origin that dates back to the seventeenth century, when the Altieri family commissioned the famous baroque architect Carlo Fontana to build the “Villa Delizia”. The project included the creation of two long avenues each approximately 1,500 meters in length, along which elms were placed on both sides. The first avenue commences at Palazzo Altieri and leads to Piazza Umberto I where it reaches the entrance to the Convent of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers of Montevirginio. The second avenue connects the Convent of the Franciscan Fathers of Oriolo with the road that leads to Canale Monterano.
Palazzo Altieri begins as a project to reclaim and provide territorial security within this splendid and beautiful area. The Palazzo Altieri was built over the period from 1578 to 1585. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, it became the property of the Orsini family and later on it passed to the Altieri family, a powerful family who it reached its maximum splendour in 1670 when one of their exponents ascended the papal throne with the name of Clement X.
Oriolo Romano
The history of this quaint village is quite recent, however, its foundation dates back to the mid-sixteenth century, when the area was acquired by Giorgio di Santacroce, who set his hand to an avant-garde agroforestry reclamation project with the construction of the first residential nucleus. The cornerstone of this enlightened design was the Baronial palace, attributed to students of Vignola.
Day 2 - Oriolo Romano Veiano
Difficulty: Easy
The Mignon River originates at Poggio Coscia (612 meters above sea level) in the area to the Northwest of Lake Sabatino. With its 62 kilometers of length, it is one of the main rivers of Lazio. It crosses the provinces of both Rome and Viterbo. The towns and cities that the river touches along its course are: Veiano, Oriolo Romano, Canale Monteranno, Tolfa, Allumiere, Tarquinia and Civitavecchia.
Vejano is an ancient city founded by the Etruscans then subsequently dominated by the Romans. From the Middle Ages onwards Vejano was historically and politically linked to the Papal State.
Day 3 - Veiano Barbarano Romano
Difficulty: Easy
The abandoned railway has been a subject of repeated restorative works since 1986 that have seen the restoration of the bridges and tunnels along the railway. The restorative works are still underway.
The Etruscan necropolis of San Giuliano is the only necropolis to offer a complete overview of the development of the funerary architecture of the Etruscans. It presents a typology that goes from the shaft and pit tombs found during the Iron Age to the large earthen and stone mounds from the archaic rock tombs to the Hellenistic cube tombs. The trip to the bottom of the gorge will seem like a journey back through time, commencing from the seventh century B.C. and moving forward to the 3rd century AD.
The Marturanum park lays within the unmistakable landscape of Etruscan Lazio. The park includes ample woods and pastures that hide a set of picturesque gorges cut into the tuff rock by streams flowing out of the surrounding hills. Established in 1984, the park falls entirely within the Municipality of Barbarano Romano in a hilly area between the Tolfa mountains and the hills surrounding the Lake Vico.
Day 4 Barbarano Romano Blera
Difficulty: Easy
The Walloons or ancient communication routes full of life and activity in the past, now a uniquely suggestive environment where nature is slowly regaining possession of its spaces. A challenging path of great suggestion along the course of the Biedano river. The treker is amply repaid for its effort with the beauty and splendour of nature as you to reach the village of Blera from Barbarano or vice versa. Along the way you come across small dams, tunnels, mills, caves and quarries all surrounded by luxurious vegetation.
Day 5 - Blera Civitella Cesi Monteromano
Difficulty: Easy
Luni sul Mignone is located on the Viterbo side of the Tolfa Mountains and a short distance from Blera and Civitella Cesi. The archaeological site of Luni sul Mignone represents the heart of a secluded area of extraordinary landscape beauty. The archaeological area preserves important traces of a pre-Villanovan settlement. Also is very interesting to visit is the "village chief's house", embellished by a column carved into the rock. The atmosphere is enigmatic and filled with mystery suggesting how eccentric it is that places once inhabited, today appears “out of this world”.
Day 6 - Monteromano Tarquinia
Difficulty: Easy
Tarquinia was declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site for the presence of an exceptional monumental series of painted tombs, defined as "the commencement of great Italian painting". It is one of the largest of the ancient Etruscan cemeteries.
Tarquinia’s origins are Etruscan. The city consists of more than 6,000 underground Etruscan tombs that occupy the entire vast Monterozzi hill. The painted tombs are painted on plaster as opposed to the carved or sculpted tombs found in Cerveteri. At Tarquinia the tombs are decorated with figurative scenes that include hunters, fishermen, players, dancers, jugglers, athletes, all a representation of the wealth and power of the deceased for whom they were perform as a symbol of their high social rank.
For info costs and reservation:
Quarto Spazio - Via F. Petrarca,22 - Civita Castellana (VT)
Tel: 0761.516188 - 0761.533297
info@quartospazio.com
www.quartospazio.com
