HOTEL LE CASCATE

ORVIETO - The famous rock of Orvieto is just the basis of a city where everything is about art and history. Ages come across the city starting from the Etruscan civilization, through the Middle Age, until today. Since then, time has not been able to damage the wild beauty of the red tufa plateau (which Orvieto is made of) but it testifies about a supreme art. Putting together the famous Duomo, the Saint Patrick well, the Moro’s clocktower and many other artistic treasures, you easily get a unique glance over the Orvieto masterpiece.
In the Orvieto surroundings, in any of its areas, both Tuscany and Latium directions, you can reach many historical attractions, as the Etruscan Necropolis at Crocifisso del Tufo, the Roman ruins over the Tiber (Pagliano’s roman harbour) and Giulio’s bridge (roman architecture near Paglia river).

Distances > Roma (110 km - 68 miles), Firenze (149 km - 92 miles), Perugia (66 km - 41 miles), Terni (75 km - 46,5 miles), Siena (120 km - 74 miles) Assisi (70 km - 43 miles), Todi (30 km - 18,6 miles), Bolsena (20 km - 12 miles), Viterbo (45 km - 27,9 miles).

TODI - The town is world wide famous mainly for the kind of stone which is made of and also because the poet Iacopone da Todi was born there. Visiting Todi also gives you the chance to taste its typical food and products. Very nice is the historical downtown starting from the Santuario della Consolazione through the San Donato church until the great Piazza del Popolo.

A visit to this town is of the greatest interest for the beauty of its monuments and its medieval centre. The nature surrounding the historic downtown is rich, full of great landscapes and panoramic view. In ten minutes from Todi you can easily reach the Tevere river park and Corbara lake. Distances > Orvieto (30 km - 18,6 miles), Assisi (55 km - 34 miles), Perugia (50 km - 31 miles), Terni ( 40 km - 24,8 miles), Spoleto (42 km - 25 miles), Gubbio (80 km - 50 miles), Roma (139 km - 86 miles), Firenze (197 km - 122 miles)

CASCIA - Cascia has a millenary historical tradition and background. Its main spot is surely Santa Rita Sanctuary. Cascia is also very close to Marches, which are beyond the large and spectacular Park of the Sibillini Mountains. Not far from Cascia there is the small borough of Roccaporena, a mystic town, that is the native place of Santa Rita.

Cascia is plunged in the Valnerina, so that it represents a perfect place for the nature lovers too.

Many sport activities and excursions can be done in these territories. In a few minutes the Sibillini mountains park can be reached, a great wild park that divide the Umbria region with the Marches region. Distances > Roma (148 km - 92 miles), Perugia (100 km - 62 miles), Assisi (90 km - 55 miles), Ascoli Piceno (70 km - 42 miles), Terni (60 km - 36 miles), Gubbio (130 km - 80 miles), Spoleto (47 km - 29 miles)

FOLIGNO and the Clitunno’s Springs - Famous since ancient ages, Clitunno’s springs are a spectacular series of many water bubbles making a suggestive little lake. Near the lake you can find a nice small temple dedicated to the Saturno god. Close to the Clitunno's springs there are some interesting towns like Foligno Trevi, Bevangna, Spello and Montefalco. All these towns have the typical umbrian features with hill position and fascinating white-stone built palaces. Walking around these umbrian boroughs is a unique experience, infact they all have mantained the old atmosphere of the past ages.

SPOLETO - This town represents a typical mix of many different ages and events. Once rebuilt by the Romans, it still keeps its old medieval aspect. Spoleto was a rich Lungbard area, then, an important Papal State town. The Rocca Albornoziana and the Roman ruins must be seen!
Since a long time, Spoleto has been the set for an important cultural event, called "Festival dei Due Mondi".

Other important monuments that worth a visit are the Cathedral of S.Maria Assunta, the S.Pietro church and the Roman theatre dating from the 1st century A.D. today totally restored so that its original structure and shape is once more visible. Distances > Terni (30 km - 18,6 miles), Perugia (65 km - 40 miles), Assisi (70 km - 42 miles), Cascia e Norcia (45-50 km - 32 miles), Orvieto (80 km - 49 miles), Roma (140 km - 86 miles)

NORCIA - Among the most important Umbrian towns, Norcia is a pitoresque place characterized by its central square where the S. Benedetto Basilique and the Town Hall are. Not so far from the town there is Castelluccio di Norcia, an almost deserted small borough, located in the Mount Sibillini Mounts National Park. This area is very famous for its lenticchie and for its altitude (1432 mt on the sea level): this is the reason why the borough has a nickname: "the roof of Umbria". In Castelluccio di Norcia a climbing course can be done. For the sport lovers, you can find another attraction near Norcia; the rafting center on the Corno stream. Norcia is also a town famous for its cookery tradition and its precious black truffle. Distances > Roma (160 km - 99 miles), Perugia (110 km - 68 miles), Assisi (90 km - 65 miles), Ascoli Piceno (60 km - 37 miles), Terni (65 km - 40 miles), Gubbio (130 km - 80,6 miles), Spoleto (50 km - 30 miles)

BOMARZO - Deeply plunged in Viterbo district and in a particularly green area, Bomarzo is a real representation of a perfectly maintained medieval town. Its unique Rocky Monster’s Park is a great half a day stop.

The name "Bomarzo" is supposed to come from the Roman period from Polymartium of uncertain meaning. It was a property of the Orsini family, whose castle is at the edge of the densely-built town, until Marzio sold it to the Lante family in 1645.
Bomarzo's main attraction is a garden usually referred to as the Bosco Sacro (Sacred grove) or, locally, Bosco dei Mostri ("Monsters' Grove"), because of its many large stone sculptures which populate this particular landscape.
A sphinx is located right at the entrance of the Park of the Monsters.
This garden was made by Pier Francesco Orsini, called Vicino (1528–1588), the patron of the arts, greatly devoted to his wife Giulia Farnese; when she died, he created the gardens for her.
The park of Bomarzo was meant not to please, but to shock visitors. In itself there are lots of arcane symbolism.
The reason for the layout and design of the garden is largely unknown: perhaps they were meant as a foil to the perfect symmetry and layout of the great Renaissance gardens nearby at Villa Farnese and Villa Lante. Next to a formal exedra is a tilting watchtowerlike casina, the so-called Casa Storta ("Hanging House").
An octagonal templet was added about twenty years later to honor the second wife of Orsini, Giulia Farnese.
During the Nineteenth Century and deep into the twentieth the garden became overgrown and neglected, but in the 1970s a program of restoration was implemented by the Bettini family, and today the garden, which remains private property, is a major tourist attraction.
The surreal nature of the Parco dei Mostri appealed to Jean Cocteau and the great surrealist Salvador Dalí, who discussed it at great length. The poet André Pieyre de Mandiargues wrote an essay devoted to Bomarzo. Niki de Saint Phalle was inspired by Bomarzo for her Tarot Garden. The story behind Bomarzo and the life of Pier Francesco Orsini are the subject of a fascinating novel by the Argentinian writer Manuel Mujica Láinez (1910-1984), Bomarzo (1962). Mujica Láinez himself wrote a libretto based on his novel, which was set to music by Alberto Ginastera (1967). The opera Bomarzo premièred in Washington in 1967. In Argentina the opera was banned by the military dictatorship, but in the USA both Mujica Láinez and Ginastera were awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

TERNI - Marmore Falls - Once you get Terni, keep going on towards Valnerina. Suddenly, only after 7 km, you will find on your right side the impressive and amazing Marmore Falls, the highest falls in Europe, 165 mt high. This fall was artificially created by the Romans, to supply their water needs.Terni is a dinamic city, one of the most modern in Umbria, anyway beside its industrial fame, it is also rich of monuments and interesting archeological area.Infact not far from the city, there are two different but great attractions: one is the famous archeological site of Carsulae, while in the near Avigliano Umbro, you can enjoy a restful excursion in the prehistoric Dunarobba's wood. The city itself boasts a nice historical downtown, and just out of the city, there is the famous San Valentino's cathedral.

Distances > Roma (90 km - 55 miles), Firenze (220 km - 136 miles), Perugia (60 km - 37 miles), Orvieto (75 km - 46 miles), Todi (60 km - 37 miles)

AMELIA - this ancient Umbrian borugh is on a top hill position and its historical downtown woth a visit, in particular the Cathedral is very interesting. Moreover near this monument you can enjoy a visit to the old roman reserviors. The surroundings are interesting too above all the ancient Para's dike. Distances > Roma (103 km -63,8 miles), Perugia (100 km - 62 miles), Assisi (105 km - 65 miles), Terni (40 km - 24,8 miles), Orvieto (65 km - 40 miles), Spoleto (55 km - 34 miles)