Скачать или смотреть Il Soratte da Civita Castellana - Monte Soratte Nature Reserve (manortiz)

Monte Soratte Nature Reserve

The territory of the Reserve extends for 410 hectares on the surface of the mountain from which its name derives, standing out in the flat landscape of the Tiber valley, between the Via Flaminia and the river, at about 40 Km in the north of Rome. Even if the highest peak reaches only the 691 meters, from the summit of the mountain you can enjoy a unique view going from Mt. Terminillo to Mt. Amiata, to Bracciano Lake and to the Tyrrheanian Sea. The calcareous composition of the rocks gives origin to karstic phenomena both on the surface and in depth. Some cavities, like the Cave of S. Lucia, give the Reserve a priceless value. Also the vegetation of Mt. Soratte, as well as its geological features, is completely different from the surrounding landscape, forming a clearly recognizable entity.
The Reserve is interesting not only from a naturalistic point of view, but also as far as its historical-monumental aspects are concerned, for the presence of the route of the hermitages witnessing the religious vocation of the site, known since ancient times as the "Holy Mountain".
Geology
Monte Soratte Nature Reserve includes all the carbonate relief of Mt. Soratte up to Mt. Piccolo in the south-east (except the settlement of Sant'Oreste), and becomes higher with very steep slopes from the plain to the right bank of the river Tiber. The mountain has an elliptical shape and is 5.5 km long, oriented NW-SE, with its highest peak of 691 meters of height.
Mt. Soratte, if it appears nowadays as a terrestrial island in the Tiber valley, in the past was a real sea island: as a matter of fact, during the Pliocene period, all the surrounding areas were invaded by the sea. As an evidence of that period, the area surrounding the mountain is characterized by sands and clays which originated from the sea deposits.(...)
Archaeology and History
The religious vocation of Soratte is known since ancient times, when the mountain became the worship place par excellence of the pre-Roman populations (Sabine, Capenati, Falisci, Etruscan people). This peculiarity went on during the Roman age (worship of Soranus Apollo) and in the Middle Ages, when Soratte became the seat of the Monastery of S. Silvestro, where you can admire votive frescoes. From the 15th century onwards, a series of hermitages flourished: they are still quite well-preserved.
http://www.parks.it/riserva.monte.sor...