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Data
- Interest:
- Historical - archaeological and naturalistic
- Type of route:
- ring
- Difficulty level:
- E
- Track length:
- 10,300 Km
- Total height difference:
- + / - 390 m
- Departure altitude:
- 462 m
- Max quota:
- 482 m
- Min quota:
- 222 m
- Excursion time:
- 2h e 30 min
- Edited by:
- ProLoco di Ficulle Revision: Gianfranco Milani, Paolo Bellocchio
- Updated on:
- August 2020
- Description:
- The path starts from the fountain immediately below the ancient parish church of Santa Maria Vecchia which is located immediately outside the walls of Ficulle and would seem to already exist in 1292, as suggested by the Land Registry of Orvieto (church considered as late Romanesque, or even Gothic according to the Tedeschini Romani, and dating back to the thirteenth century; although considerations on the apse structure could place it between the seventh and tenth centuries as a pre-Romanesque rural church).
We begin to descend towards the Chiani valley along the road which, in addition to showing us the fascinating eastern side of the town, leads us to the hamlet of Rotanselva (Villa Rotansilve from the Orvieto land registry of 1292), where we find the homonymous fountain, up at the ford of the Ficulle ditch at Rilungo.
The road could be an ancient medieval road given the presence of the ruins of an ancient and massive bridge over the Chiani river that led from Ficulle to the territories of the Municipality of Parrano. The route continues along the river below the Ucella-Pollaceto locality (Villa Uzelle). From here it is possible to face the climb that, passing through the Pietrara locality, will lead us to the Pozzarello fountain and to the hamlet of San Cristoforo, or continue for the Chianaiole locality towards the Badia and its fountain.
If we continue, once in the place that houses the Abbey of San Nicolò al Monte Orvietano, we can only let ourselves be drawn into the imagination of its history, an ancient history of which there is no certainty about the foundation (San Romualdo 1007? ), if not the presence of Monaco Graziano (around 1110) and a frenetic and intense community life with surrounding walls, numerous buildings and watchtowers, as well as numerous possessions that included the mill on the Chiani river and many lands in the plateau above, the current Monte area, which we will reach through the demanding and panoramic “Path of the Crosses”.
We have thus reached the hamlet of San Cristoforo.
Through the obligatory SS 71 and the streets of the town we will rejoin the starting point of this fantastic journey through nature and history.
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