Stage 9: Orvinio - Mandela

From Orvinio, we head to Praterelle through the “Parco Regionale dei Monti Lucretili”, and then cross an oak forest, till we reach an altitude of 1,100 metres. A long, moderately difficult panoramic slope among broom bushes will lead us to the village of Licenza, which hosts the Villa of Horace, the great Latin poet. The route briefly rises to a ridge overlooking the Aniene River Valley, the nearby Ruffi Mountains and the more distant Simbruini Chain. From Pian di Papa, so called after Pope John Paul II, who frequently visited the place, we descend to Mandela, and then to Vicovaro. Here, on the cliff of San Cosimato in the narrowest part of the Aniene Valley, stands a convent erected on a complex of Benedictine hermitages and Roman aqueducts.