Monte Soratte

View from the north

The Monte Soratte (Latin mons Soracte ) is a stand-alone mountain of 691 meters height in the Tiber valley, which is visible from a long distance. It is 52 km north of Rome in the Lazio region and about eight kilometers southeast of Civita Castellana. Geologically, it belongs to the past on the other side of the Tiber Sabine Mountains.

The mainly consisting of limestone, in the sunshine shimmering white collection has already been described in the poems of Virgil and Horace. Horace praises the sight of the snow-capped in winter mountain ( vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte? , Carm. 9 i ), while Virgil called Apollo as patron god of the mountain. An Apollo temple at the summit, however, was never proven. With the wolves at the Soracte the rite of hirpi sorani is to be associated. These were members of a particular local family that could go barefoot over hot coals without getting burned.

In fact, he was ordained Dis Pater and the gods of the underworld.

At the foot of the eastern side of the mountain is a disused limestone quarry.

Only a little is a monastery, which was moved here in 1835 from the summit below the summit. This monastery of San Silvestro was founded in 748 by Carloman, son of Charles Martel, the altar in the ruined church still has fragments of sculptures from this time on. Up to the present time, the monastery was used by the Trinitarian order.

The village Sant'Oreste at the southeast end of the ridge owes its name to a modification of the original name of the church, which was dedicated to the local patron Edistus. In the urban palazzo, a processional cross from the 11th century is in the Byzantine style (see: Roman quarterly magazine in 1905, archeology).

The surroundings of Monte Soratte is a nature reserve. Five designated trails allow the visitor a comprehensive exploration. Also worth seeing are the discovered 1920-1940 and developed karst caves.

From 1937, Benito Mussolini was building a bunker for the military leadership in the Monte Soratte. After the armistice of Cassibile it was used from September 1943 by Albert Kesselring and his command authority. In September, the Wehrmacht ran the operation axis ( arrest of the Italian soldiers ); from then on, the Wehrmacht was occupying forces in Italy.

After the war, the bunker has also been used as an ammunition depot. Began in 1967 in parts of the system to build a fallout shelter, but was canceled in 1972 for unknown reasons. Today, the association Associazione bunker Soratte care of the facility and also offers guided tours.