リージョナルパークロッカモンフィーナ-フォースガリリアーノ周辺のアトラクション＆必見スポット - トップ14

Walls of the Queen's Garden

⚠️⚠️ If going downhill, be VERY careful at the beginning (just after the gate) because there is a wide and deep water drain WITHOUT a grate above. There is a risk of getting seriously hurt!

The Garden of the Queen is a short path, easily accessible with children and offers the thrill of discovering a place shrouded in mystery. The path starts immediately uphill but is very short (about 800 meters to the destination), for where the difficulty level is really low. You know you're on the right path because there are fences that accompany you and the climb is made easier by steps made from tree trunks. A few meters later, there it was, in the middle of the forest surrounded by trees and covered in green moss. A large wall, made of enormous trachyte boulders, which extends for a perimeter of approximately 250 metres. How many millennia have passed since man laid the first stone here? It is not known, it is thought that the walls were built around the 5th century BC, evidence of the presence of man in very ancient times in this area. It is not even clear what the function was: some speak of a temple dedicated to a divinity from the pre-Roman epic, while others assume it was a military post which had the function of controlling the border areas. Even the name "garden" suggests one of these two hypotheses: "hortus" means enclosure (used in a military sense), or it can also be understood as a sacred place.

The sanctuary was founded in 1430[1] by Saint Bernardino of Siena and Saint Giacomo della Marca, who had arrived there following the news of the discovery of a statue of the Virgin in the same or previous year[2]. A first rural chapel was built, then a first church, shortly afterwards enlarged in its current form between 1448 and 1507 This event has taken on a legendary character in popular tradition. In fact it is said that, towards the end of 1300, a shepherd boy who took his goats to graze along that mountain noticed a curious fact: every day, one of the goats moved away from its companions and in the evening it was the one that gave the most milk. Intrigued, one day he decided to follow her. He was thus led in front of a cave where the goat stopped to graze on lush grass. The shepherd decided to enter it and found a trunk. He immediately thought he had found a treasure, but had to retreat when he realized that the chest was guarded by a snake with two keys in its mouth. Frightened, he went to town to call for reinforcements. Relatives and friends rushed to the cave, and when the reptile gave them the keys, the trunk was opened revealing its treasure: the icon of the Blessed Virgin in lava stone. The Grotto can still be visited next to the church Inside there is a magnificent rectangular cloister with pointed arches supported by small columns

The path is marked CAI 912 and was used for the Via Crucis, still today it is maintained and cleaned of weeds as it passes through the bush and would be immediately submerged. If it is clean, it is also passable by MTB since it goes uphill starting from Roccamonfina and leads to the Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Lattani. At its end you will find a closed gate which you can avoid by climbing stairs.

Easily reachable by cycling in the middle of nature........

beautiful in this season for the flowering gorse

Stone structure with a dominant view over the entire territory.