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Lefebvre Waterfall on Isola del Liri: the waterfall hidden among the ruins of the paper mill
Everyone knows about the Cascata Grande (Great Waterfall) of Isola del Liri; few mention the Cascata del Valcatoio, a waterfall that flows down a sloping surface along the right branch of the Liri. And almost no one knows the third: the Lefebvre Waterfall, fed by the Magnene stream — not the Liri — which plunges over 13 metres through vegetation and 19th-century walls.
A factory buried by vegetation
In 1812 Frenchman Carlo Antonio Beranger converted the closed convent of Santa Maria delle Forme into a paper mill, which in 1822 was taken over by Carlo Lefebvre, turning it into one of the most important manufacturing facilities in the Kingdom of Naples. Paper was produced here even for the Daily Telegraph in London. Then came the decline — nature slowly reclaimed everything, and for nearly a century the factory disappeared beneath the creepers. In 1995, two ANAS road workers discovered a sinkhole on state road 82: beneath it lay the forgotten paper mill.
What you can see today
Today a 54-metre steel walkway crosses the ruins from above, and leads to the edge of the waterfall. The Magnene plunges through roofless arches and Dutch vats — machines used to shred rags — before flowing into the Liri. The area is part of the Ancient Paper Mills Archaeological Park, the guided tour also includes the former Cartiere Meridionali and the Cartiera Boimond mills.
