Lazio hidden treasures (Vol.2)
Lazio is a region full of history, culture and territorial beauties.
Rooted in ancient populations’ history it presents hundreds of marvelous and varied attractions, landscape gems and hidden treasures off the radar we are going to deal with in this article.
Palmarola Island
Palmarola Island is part of the Pontine Islands and for its characteristics ad peculiarity is considered one of the most spectacular islands in the world. The quintessential beauty of this uncontaminated place is its “Cathedral”, called in this way due to the peculiar shape of the rocks. Mostly uninhabited it is the second largest of the Pontine Islands and is located about 10 kilometers west from the beautiful Ponza. This islet takes its name from the palm that grows wildly on its soil. The island indeed is a natural reserve with an uncontaminated aspect, variegated coasts and amazing blues sea, attracting every summer visitors that want to dwell in its typical houses carved in the rock.
Calcata
This unique gem in the Province of Viterbo is considered one of the most enchanting landscapes of Lazio. Its rich and impenetrable vegetation, with shimmering colors that change with seasons, change and merge with the red tuff rocks creating high walls and gorges. Here, on a spur suspended in space, rises the little medieval borgo that just like a little islet in a green sea, fascinates viewer’s eye taking him into a timeless era, where suggestions of nature combine with a magical and mysterious Middle Ages atmosphere. A one of a kind fortified village, it has been naturally safeguarded by its morphology. Another highlight of dream place called Calcata are its houses excavated in the rock and covered with red, yellow and green lichens, plus the silent grottoes used by the ingenious inhabitants as delicious small shops or artisan and artistic workshops.
Canale Monterano
The lost city of Canale Monterano rises on a tuff upland which sides fall for 100 meters towards the underlying River Mignone and Torrent Bicione. About 2 km far from the beautiful Lake Bracciano, on this hill rise up the remains of the lost Monterano, where you can find Etruscan tombs, little grottoes covered with vegetation and some springs of boiling water. The suggestive ruins scattered among the dense vegetation offer corners of unparalleled charm immersed in a scenario that looks like something out of Dante’s Inferno. Not for nothing it has been the set of several movies since the 50’s, offerring a perfect frame for masterpieces such as Ben Hur, or important Italian films as Brancaleone at the Crusades and The Marquis of Grillo starring the great Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi.
