Overview
The English poet George Byron visited the Marmore Falls in southern Umbria in 1817, describing them as “horribly beautiful”. Something so frightening and overpowering does indeed perfectly reflect the romantic notion of sublime beauty. Along with Byron, also Goethe, Corot and other artists of the past recall the majesty of the gushing water from the River Velino as it cascades from on high towards the River Nera.
It should be noted, however, that the Marmore Falls, despite their superhuman beauty, exist due to an intervention which is almost entirely human.
Much time has passed since 271 BC, when the Roman consul Manio Curio Dentato ordered the stagnant waters surrounding the city of Rieti to be drained towards the river Nera. Since then, three gigantic downward cascades overcome a difference in altitude of 165 metres, making the Marmore Falls the highest in Europe.
The various streams of water created by the falls can be approached along well-marked pathways of varying difficulty, for a "horribly beautiful" experience, to once more repeat the words of Lord Byron.
