If you are looking for a trip to do in the weekend, or for holiday too, it’s the right moment to discover “Borghi più belli d’Italia” (the Italia’s most beautiful villages). The official website splits by region these selected towns and among them, in particular, there is Arrone, placed 8 km from Terni and nestled in the heart of Valnerina.
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The concept of the village recalls the typical medieval town and, while walking through the streets, it’s hard not to marvel at the green hills which protect the stone walls; but the origins of Arrone are older and can be discovered through the nature trails that depart from there. One of them is Sentiero dell’Olio (The Oil Trail), which starts from the center and ventures into oaks and pines to ascent to the small village of Tripozzo, located 600 meters above sea level.
While climbing, you can see how maquis is fast replaced by expanses of olive trees and Roman remains: indeed this site was widely used to grow and process olives, proved by mill’s remains and by the street, now used by hikers, that once was the link to transport oil down to the valley.
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Another confirmation of the anthropological significance of the area is the presence of a source of water, known as fonte di San Lorenzo (The Spring of San Lorenzo), which you can discover at less than 500 meters above the sea level along the way, but also of archaeological finds like a building and ceramic materials, that have been found after some farming works. They date back approximately to a period between I Century b.C. and the I Century a.C. in Tripozzo itself, because of the presence of typical structures and construction techniques of the Roman era, appeared in 2000 after the excavations made by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of Umbria.
It is thought that the building was a villa for slaves and by studying this construction it has been possible to ascertain the presence of a beam press, used to squeeze olives. We knowe that the building was also renovated: so we can suppose that both the crusher construction and the following changes were made by a prominent man of the early Empire Age, a sort of entrepreneur who had a large number of manpower for its growing activities.
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The oil production is now carried out in an organic way, as we can see from some placards placed among the olive trees. Maybe the harvest is made by some discendants of that entrepreneurial figure!
In Tripozzo, the walk leads to a beautiful scenery that worths the route: we can admire the valley, where you can see a varied landscape of woods, olives groves, some fractions of Arrone like Montefranco and, if you refine your view, you can see on your left the cloud of water rushing down from the Marmore Waterfalls, hidden by another hill.
With our eyes full of wonder, we can come back to Arrone.
Sources
Parco Regionale Fluviale Del Nera, Itinerari escursionistici a tema. Sulle orme del nostro passato: alla visita di interessanti siti archeologici.
http://www.turismovalnerina.it/itinerario
https://www.nordicwalkingterni.it/eventi.html?start=165
tipicamenteumbria.it
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Marica Sorbini
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