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#fidenetrekking #abruzzotrekking1962 #montagna #montagne #mountain #mountains #mount #roma #romacapitale #tivoli #montecatillo #sugheretadisirividola #montesterparo #montilucretili #villagregoriana #villadeste #villaadriana #collelecinone #collelucco #sanpolodeicavalieri #castelmadama #marcellina #rifugiobologna #vicovaro In addition to visiting its splendid villas and spending a few hours relaxing in one of the thermal establishments most frequented by Romans (both ancient and modern!), an excellent reason to include Tivoli in the list of Lazian villages all worth discovering is undoubtedly taking a stroll inside the Monte Catillo Natural Reserve: a protected area of over 1,300 hectares, located right next to the historic city center and in continuity with the first Apennine reliefs, along whose trails it is possible to admire magnificent views of the valley carved by the Aniene, actually just 40 km from the capital. Enjoyable in every season of the year thanks to its privileged geographical position, there are several ways to visit the reserve: on horseback, relying on one of the many tourist-sports associations operating on site; by mountain bike, taking care to choose the most suitable route for one's abilities; on foot, leaving the car near the imposing Arco di Quintiliolo and climbing along the “Don Nello del Raso” trail, marked at its initial stretch by sign 330 (alternatively, a second access to the protected area is located a few meters further ahead, but still on the road to Marcellina, at the entrance parking lot of the Hotel Torre Sant’Angelo). If you decide to undertake your trek from the Arco di Quintiliolo (as I did), accompanying you for the first half hour of walking will be, on one side, evocative views of what remains of the Tiburtina Acropolis, on the other flowering shrubs, small rock jumps and steep limestone walls: we are in fact at the foot of Monte Catillo, “Tivoli's mountain”, and nature is here the sole and undisputed protagonist. If the summit of Monte Catillo, with its modest 612 meters altitude, represents an unmissable destination for those who wish to observe the city from above, it is however the Sughereta di Sirividola – from Latin suber, i.e. “cork oak” – that deserves the title of the most surprising environment in the entire protected area, despite fires, illegal grazing and human action having greatly reduced its extent over time. What then makes it a unique biotope of its kind? First of all the fact that it rises on calcareous terrain, unlike other similar woods found in Lazio almost always distributed along river courses or in relation to alluvial origin substrates; secondly the coexistence of plants typical of the western Mediterranean, such as the cork oak itself, and species originating from the eastern Balkans such as storax, a contrast justified by the particular climatic conditions of the reserve, mitigated for most of the year by the Tyrrhenian influence. After calmly crossing the cork oak wood, the trail thus emerges into the open, climbing for about half an hour the stony ridge of Monte Giorgio, characterized by sinkholes and other interesting karst erosion phenomena – the so-called “furrowed fields or tracks” – among whose crevices an incredible variety of flowers and evergreen shrubs proliferate. Looking around, the view ranges from the beautiful mountains framing the Aniene Valley (Monti Lucretili, Monti Ruffi and Monti Prenestini are clearly distinguishable) to the picturesque villages of Castel Madama and Ciciliano, practically a stone's throw from the Abruzzo border. Time to take a few photos and we delve back into the woods, gradually losing altitude until we reach the Colle dei Travi locality, crossroads of two of the most frequented trails in the area: the one to San Polo dei Cavalieri, overlapping the initial stretch of the so-called Via dei Lupi – an interesting stage trek connecting Tivoli to the Abruzzo village of Civitella Alfedena, crossing five protected areas and an infinity of green villages – and the one to Rifugio Fonte Bologna, the only support point of the entire route. Once again, surrounding us is vegetation so dense and varied as to leave one literally speechless, a true labyrinth of trees in which to make one's way among hawthorn bushes, centuries-old chestnuts and majestic specimens of pseudocork oak (a very rare type of oak which, although belonging to the evergreen family, presents morphological characteristics typical of deciduous species).
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Video length: 18:54
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