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Goodnight Moon

Moon sunset in Monterano.
Set up in 1988, the Monterano Nature Reserve protects one of the most representative and unspoilt areas of the "Tuscia Roma...
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Moon sunset in Monterano.
Set up in 1988, the Monterano Nature Reserve protects one of the most representative and unspoilt areas of the "Tuscia Romana" between the Tolfa and Sabatini mountains (covered by another protected area).
Wooded hills, volcanic gorges with typical vegetation and rare ferns, meadows and pastures with their typical plants and animals, crossed by a river, the Mignone, designated as one of the Sites of Community Importance representing the natural heritage of the entire European Union as part of the Nature 2000 Network.
The protected area includes the remains of the fascinating "dead city" of Monterano, abandoned in the early nineteenth century, on a spur of tuff between Tolfa mountains and Lake Bracciano. Is no accident that the area has hosted the set for famous films set in the past, of Ben-Hur (1959) with Charlton Heston in the cricket Marquis (1981) with Alberto Sordi.
The "dead" city of Monterano with its stately mansion, aqueduct soaring on audacious arches, splendid lion fountain by Bernini, San Bonaventura monastery and other more humble dwellings often built on earlier Etruscan remains is not just of great historical and archaeological interest, but also highly evocative. Thanks to the Reserve, this extraordinarily rich cultural heritage is currently undergoing conservative restoration to combat the inexorable degradation of time.
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