NATURE AND RELAX
ABRUZZO NATIONAL PARK, LAZIO AND MOLISE – LAZIO SIDE
In the Ciociaro hinterland, on the border with Abruzzo and Molise, among suggestive landscapes and medieval villages, the Abruzzo National Park is inserted with its Lazio side.
The National Park, established in 1921, which is therefore the oldest in Italy, is of fundamental importance for the protection and preservation of some species of the Italian faunistic environment, such as the Marsicano bear, the Abruzzo chamois and the wolf. The headquarters of the Park is in Pescasseroli, easily reachable from Sora, the gateway to the National Park of Abruzzo Lazio and Molise.
The Lazio side, due to the richness of its waters and the particularly humid climate, is one of the richest valleys of forest vegetation. Enclosed within the gigantic amphitheater of the mountains southeast of the province of Frosinone, the splendid scenery of the Val di Comino is an extraordinary source of history of art and culture that today identifies it as the “Via Romantica della Ciociaria” that winds along the valley revealing ancient villages dominated by powerful castles, adorned with sumptuous buildings and places rich in history, overlooking the Lazio side of the Park.
THE CAVES OF PASTENA
The Caves of Pastena, discovered in 1926 by Baron Carlo Franchetti, are counted among the major speleological complexes of our peninsula. The path that is divided between an active lower branch, where an underground river flows, and an upper fossil branch, rich in concretions football, shows environments of particular interest, unique in their majesty and mystery.
THE GORGES OF THE MELFA AND THE TRACCIOLINO
The “green jewel” of the Ciociaria, 14 kilometers of wild landscape between woods and cliffs, caves and hermitages, waterfalls and rapids. A true paradise for lovers of water sports and more … A site that the European Community has included in the list of the most important natural sites for the presence of raptors and wolves. One of the most ancient and characteristic roads of Lazio, the tracciolino, trait d’union between the Liri Valley and the Comino Valley, a natural gateway to the nearby National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise.
THE CAVES OF COLLEPARDO
The Caves of Collepardo, both open about 30m above the river Fiume, which over the course of millions of years have shaped the valley in which it flows. The cavity consists of a larger room and a smaller room now closed to the public, to safeguard the small bat colony that populates it, especially during hibernation.
The spectacle of stalactites and stalagmites, created by the trickling of water over the millennia, is of unparalleled beauty, which has taken on extraordinary and incredible characteristics. Due to the uniqueness of the shapes that echo human and animal figures, now real, now fantastic, the Collepardo caves have been called “Bambocci Caves” since time immemorial.
THE LAKE OF POSTA FIBRENO
The lake of Posta Fibreno or della Posta, a nature reserve, is one of the most beautiful, characteristic and unspoiled naturalistic oases of all central Italy. Included in the green Valle di Comino, this enormous source of pure water, coming from the slopes of the nearby mountains of the Abruzzo National Park, gives life to the icy and clear Fibreno river. The floating island and the naue ancient flat-bottomed vessel are peculiar features of the lake. Find here its natural habitat the small trout called “Carpione del Fibreno” (endemic) and the rare macrostigma trout. The lake has always been frequented by divers for scuba diving or freediving and by birdwatchers.