론시글리오네 최고의 사이클링 경로

Nature reserve

...easy to ride...well...nature reserve - dirt road/dirt, potholed track, but rideable with a bike/luggage. The prohibition signs probably only apply to cars, etc. A police officer even opened the barrier for me at the end.

A lake of volcanic origin in the province of Viterbo, Lake Vico perhaps owes its name to the locality Vicus Matrini, an important junction on the Via Cassia that no longer exists. It is surrounded by a wetland that is also a protected natural area.

For overnight stays, we ended the journey at Lake Vico and then moved to Caprarola to visit the splendid Palazzo Farnese, or Villa Farnese, one of the most fascinating examples of a Renaissance residence in all of Europe. A journey full of history that would have deserved many stops, but we still had to get to the planned destination... It has five floors, dozens of rooms, frescoed halls, public and private spaces and a park with dream gardens. Its origins, in fact, date back to 1530. The building consists of five floors, including the basement, and is surrounded by a large moat. It has a pentagonal shape and a circular internal courtyard. The palace is accessed via a double staircase, whose ramps first diverge and then converge towards the main door. The servants' areas were separated from the cardinal's area and were even obtained from the thickness of the walls. Vignola was also the author of the frescoes on the internal staircase (the Scala Regia). It is a magnificent spiral staircase resting on 30 Doric columns. Legend has it that the steps were so wide that the cardinal reached the main floor directly on horseback. Over the course of twenty years, numerous illustrious painters decorated the rooms with frescoes of mythological and geographical subjects and with episodes from the history of the Farnese family: the brothers Federico and Taddeo Zuccari, Jacopo Zanguidi (known as il Bertoja) a pupil of Parmigianino, Raffaellino da Reggio and John de Vecchi. The cardinal's bedroom, the Camera dell'Aurora, and the celebrity room, known as the Stanza dei Fasti Farnesiani, decorated with frescoes that summarize the life of the Farnese family, are located on the noble floor. Next, we find the Sala dei Fasti di Ercole masterfully decorated by the Zuccari Brothers with the depiction of the mythological creation of Lake Vico. One of the most representative rooms of the building is the Stanza delle Geografiche or the Mappamondo, which takes its name from the frescoes by Giovanni Antonio da Varese depicting the world then known from the descriptions of travellers. This room contains an even more fascinating work, a singular representation of the Zodiac in the vaulted ceiling. From the highest floors of the building you can enjoy a spectacular view: Monte Soratte, Terminillo, the Sabatini Mountains, the valleys and the woods.

After the barrier from the main road, a short climb leads to the top where there are large antennas, the view is obstructed by the large trees but it is worth getting there for the beautiful descent that takes you back to the main road towards S. Martino al Cimino.

Right finish line inside the Woods....

Entrance to the beech wood of Monte Venere, with an information sign and a water fountain.

Quiet road with little traffic along the east coast of Lake Vico, an alternative to the Cimina road. Don't forget your towel and swimsuit in the summer.