Overview
Strolling along the beautiful Liri Valley on an excursion to one of the three regional parks, the Sirente Velino Regional Natural Park, the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park or the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, you will come across the marsican village of Cappadocia. A charming, perched village that preserves within itself a fairy-tale nucleus of houses with characteristic stone finishes, small streets to climb between and churches from the medieval period.
From this strategic point, it’s easy to reach some spectacular naturalistic destinations, such as the Cave of Beatrice Cenci, on the road to the hamlet of Verrecchie, a complex that took its name after the Roman noblewoman who was executed for patricide and later rose to the role of popular heroine. Inside the cave, you can immerse yourself in a cavity full of stalactites and stalagmites. A magical place of inestimable beauty, which will give you wonders right in the heart of the earth.
Not far from the Cave, it will be easy for you to reach and admire the Ovid of Verrecchie, a cavity rich in stalactites and stalagmites, more than 300 metres long, inside which a huge stream flows.
Before continuing along the varied paths of the area, you should certainly visit some of the preciousness that the village jealously preserves. Deserving your attention is the baronial palace, an emblem of the aristocratic presences that have followed one another in this village over the centuries. Here there is a cornice embellished with high reliefs of animal figures. The peculiarity is in the symbolism of these figures: the lion is associated with San Marco, the eagle with San Giovanni, the ox head with San Luca, and the crown with San Matteo.
You will find yourself passing, then, under the town clock tower, a monument to the fallen of the Fatherland made in 1920. In front of the slab, a representation of remembrance, is a bronze sculpture depicting a woman, dressed in Roman garb, holding a sword and flag, an allegory of Victory.
You should include two stops in your visit, which you will certainly not regret: the Church of Santa Margherita, destroyed in the 1915 earthquake and rebuilt in the 1930s in the centre of the town, near Piazzale Vittorio Veneto; and the Church of San Biagio, the oldest in the town, dating back to the 17th century. The structure and iconography testify to the 17th century expansion and transformation of the ancient medieval building. Nearby there are the ruins of the original Church of Santa Margherita and an abbey dating from the early Middle Ages.
After this stop in the village of Cappadocia, you can continue your hike, perhaps to the Lo Schioppo Nature Reserve, where you will see the Abruzzo's highest waterfall of more than 80 meters, or to the Mount Salviano Guided Nature Reserve, in the neighbouring municipality of Avezzano. We also invite you to linger in the hamlets of Petrella Liri, known for its caves and cliffs, Verrecchie, a charming old village, and Camporotondo, an ideal location for both summer and winter stays thanks to its modern ski resort.
We also point out that from Cappadocia starts the route that reaches the Sanctuary of the Holy Trinity on the Latium side and crosses the entire Simbruini Mountains Park, an unspoiled oasis of greenery and silence.
On these spectacular rides of yours, you will not be able to pass up a food stop, a little to recharge your energy, but above all to delight your taste buds. Recurring in the local gastronomy are regional Abruzzo dishes such as sagne, maccheroni, polenta, and legume soups. There is no shortage of cheeses and sheep meat. A place of honour is reserved for chestnuts and "panuntella," a pizza greased with meat cooking fat, which form the basis of simple but nutrient-rich essential dishes that can be enjoyed at a customary autumn festival.