The walk starts from a beautiful village, Cantalice Alta (Superiore), then it cross over the San Felice all’Acqua church , the amazing Monastery of Foresta and ends a bit later on Ventina Lake.
Cantalice
Cantalice is an unspoiled village on a rock, in the middle of a valley. You will see a beautiful fountain with frescoes and a number of swaying towers and domes.
After the little village, you’ll take the main road, it’s going down until the Monastery of Foresta, one of the 4 Francescan sanctuaries that are part of Valle Santa Reatina.
So nice to see Cantalice from below.
I follow to going down, and landscapes are breath-taking.
San Felice all’Acqua Sanctuary
At some point I come across the small sanctuary of San Felice all’Aqua. Legend told that San Felice, who lived in the 13th century, decided to build a spring of water in this quiet and place. No coincidence, the Rieti Province water catchment area is the largest in Europe!
La Foresta
Before arriving at the Monastery, there is a small fountain and a really narrow path that rises slightly and lays a little river. 12 kilometers, excellent training!
The cloister is really wonderful. In front of the Sanctuary a modern majolica called Madonna of Uva. It tells a legend that Rieti’s population discovered the refuge of the Saint and a huge crowd came. After visiting Francesco,they didn’t despise to taste the grape of the priest’s vineyard, near the grape harvest.
L’uva chi la coglieva e chi la mangiava, chi la portava via, chi la calpestava, per cui il sacerdote fortemente si turbava, ripetendo: ‘per quest’anno la mia vigna è perduta
Regain my strenght, I lead to the end of the promenade: Lake Ventina, 0.12 km² surface. Located in Colli sul Velino, it is famous and appreciated by fishermen, because in its waters there are picks, real perches and trouts.