Area 2 – Itinerary 4

Between nature and the hamlets of the Prenestini Mountains: taking a stroll between Capranica Prenestina and Rocca di Cave

  1. Naturalistic Civic Museum of the Prenestini Mountains (musem I – Capranica)

  2. Capranica Prenestina’s historical town center  (place of interest I – Capranica)

  3. Castagneto Prenestino (chestnut grove) (place of interest II – Capranica)

  4. Rocca di Cave Historical Center (place of interest III – Rocca di Cave)

  5. GeoMuseum of Rocca di Cave (museum II – Rocca di Cave)

Our “grand tourist’s” journey to discover the boundless landscape that extends around the Prenestini Mountains starts from the small town of Capranica Prenestina, 44 km away from Rome. Counting only 309 residents, the small town stands out against the Prenestini Mountain’s ridge, reaching a peak of over 1200 mt with Mount Guadagnolo and Mount Cerella as the highest summits in the territory.

The itinerary begins in the scientific beating heart of town, with the Naturalistic Civic Museum of the Prenestini Mountains: located in the

old Palazzo Barberini, built between the XIV and XV century, which still preserves its sixteenth-century structure, the museum’s objective is for visitors to acquire a naturalistic awareness of the Prenestini Mountains area, encouraging their interest in the diversity of its natural and non natural environments through an interactive tour. The rooms offer dioramas, faithful reconstructions of the most distinctive environments in the Prenestini Mountains like pastures, meadows, mixed woods and others, paired with explanatory panels on themes like biodiversity, geology, and paleontology of the territory, as well as progressive equipment to observe and study nature like microscopes and multimedia stations.

The first room in the museum addresses the topic of biodiversity, describing the native flora and fauna of its different ecosystems; the second room is dedicated to the origin of the Prenestini Mountains, examining the topics of geology and paleontology in more depth.

After this scientific and naturalistic immersion, our traveler can continue their path towards the small but precious village of Capranica and the Chiesa della Maddalena, a church tied to the Capranica family whose origin dates back to the XII century. Of its original structure, only the bell tower remains today, with some restructuring done in the 1300’s; on its head stands the rather elegant and original sixteenth-century  “cupolino”, attributed by academics to the school of Bramante.

To discover the biodiversity of the Prenestini Mountains, our traveler can’t miss a visit to the “Natural Monument” Castagneto Prenestino (chestnut grove): expanding for 166 hectares on the territories of Capranica and San Vito Romano, it consists of a vast chestnut forest (Castaneda sativa Miller) filled with monumental centuries-old trees whose naturalistic and environmental worth was maintained thanks to a delicate balance between natural dynamics and anthropic management by the relevant local entities.

This is how our traveler will move from the vastness of the landscape Capranica overlooks, to Rocca di Cave, the smallest town in the Prenestini Mountains, with only 354 residents. Focused on identifying the landscape and geodiversity of the region, in an unparalleled view that extends for over 100 km from the coast to the middle of the Appennini, our visitor clambers through the alleys of Rocca di Cave’s old town center, all the way to the medieval stronghold, house of the GeoMuseum of Rocca di Cave. The museum occupies several rooms and is dedicated to the exploration of the main geological events in the history of Lazio as well as the rocks and fossils of its territory, through a series of findings, three-dimensional models and sound stations. After visiting the museum, visitors can walk the geo-paleontologic path, declared a Natural Monument in 2016, to enjoy the 100 million years old fossil cliff; the abundance of fossil outcrop in this site is so impressive it is considered a “museum under the open sky”, a visit you absolutely won’t want to miss. “Beyond the earth and the sky” is the motto of the Geomuseum of Rocca di Cave, which boasts, among other things, a Planetarium with the sixth biggest dome in all of Italy. In the Planetarium, visitors can take part in shows and interesting lectures about space and stars thanks to interactive and innovative projections, and most of all, meet Tito, the duplicate of a big sauropod whose bones were found in the hamlet of Rocca di Cave in 2012. Six meters tall and 600 kg heavy, Tito immediately became one of the symbols of the Prenestini Mountains: from the three fossilized bones discovered, researchers were able to deduce that it was a medium-large sized dinosaur still in its developmental stage.

Recommendations and fun facts

  • To better enjoy the natural atmosphere of the two towns, we recommend spending the night in one of the neighboring holiday farms, to get a chance to try one of the trekking paths that cross the adjacent woods and to completely immerse themselves in nature and recharge with a nice picnic along the way.

Contacts and opening hours

Naturalistic Civic Museum of the Prenestini Mountains

Capranica Prenestina (RM) Piazza Aristide Frezza, 6
Info: +393358121634 | info@museonaturalisticomontiprenestini.com|
https://www.museonaturalisticomontiprenestini.com
Opening hours: Tuesdays: 10.00-13.00 | Wednesdays 15.00-18.00 | Fridays-Sundays 10.00-13.00 / 15.00-18.00

Rocca di Cave Historical Center

Rocca di Cave (RM)
Info: +39069584098
Opening hours: always open to the public

Geopanthological Museum

Rocca di Cave (RM), Piazza della Torre 11
Info: geomuseoroccadicave@gmail.com
Opening hours: on the website www.geomuseoroccadicave.it