Itineraries into the Nature

WATER  ITINERARY
Umbria is a region rich in woodland and water, resources which have always been exploited by the local population.
Natural water sources were utilised by the Romans to quench the thirst of many; these waters drove mill-wheels to grind wheat and big hammers forge iron.  As recent as a century ago, they were used to drive the first turbines to produce electrical energy.
In the River Nera's gorge, before the Nera flows into the Tiber, an uncountable series of water-mills was built in the course of two millennia. Stifone is known as "the town on the water", where the Papal State's iron-foundries worked until the 18th century and whose bellows were driven by water power.
The Mole and Lecinetto Spas, which have therapeutic properties, are nearby and a few kilometres above, the Marmore's waterfall attracts attention: it's the highest in Europe and the fall is exploited to produce electrical energy on working days.

ST. VALENTINE'S PATH
From Itieli, a little town on the top of the hill, a path  winds along the ridge of the mountain.
In the Middle Ages it was covered by the Benedictine monks, who built St. Valentine's monastery on this mountain, later it was destroyed.
The itinerary ends at the Franciscan "Sacro Speco" monastery, deep in the century-old forest.