Casalone – Grottino Thicket – Mignone River – Luni

Length 8 Km

Duration 4 hours

It starts from the road Marano at about Km 13 near the dirt road that leads to Casalone, you take this road up to the gate and, after that, you continue on the right and follow the road for another 700 meters up to a wall dry fence beyond which the road continues through the woods to the river Mignone where you turn left following its course to the confluence with the river Vesca. Immediately after you cross the confluence Mignone and turn right along a path that runs along the Vesca for about 300 meters until you reach a source of drinking water at which another path goes to the plains of Luni.

Visited the plains descend from the opposite side and past the Fosso di Canino we reach the abandoned railroad where you turn left and follow the course of the track and, passing the old station and the bridge over Monteromano Mignone, continue for another 300 meters approximately up to a dirt road that climbs to the left and take us back to the starting point and Casalone.

The route offers a vision of a healthy environment with rich vegetation of woods and small areas of tall trees along the Mignone and beautiful meadows to stop to rest and refresh themselves. The Luni area consists of a wide plateau surrounded by cliffs along the Mignone and Vesca and bordered to the north by the old railway Civitavecchia-Capranica thus being also interesting vantage point of the surrounding area. The area has been the subject of studies and systematic excavations by the Swedish Institute of Archaeology between 1960 and 1963. The excavation has provided evidence of various stages of human presence. Among all, the most famous and important horizon is related to the presence of a community of the Bronze Age, referring to what scholars call “Apennine culture”. Other important events are represented by certain presence of an Etruscan settlement and development of the site in the early Middle Ages. It is thought that Luni was abandoned shortly after the beginning of the fourteenth century because of the Black Plague.