Top 6 Caves around Magliano Sabina

The hermitage of Santa Romana, in Sant’Oreste sul Monte Soratte, is a rock-hewn church carved into a cave on the northeast side of the mountain, in a wooded and very evocative setting. According to tradition, it was consecrated in 1218, but the site seems to have even older origins, perhaps also linked to pre-Christian cults. The site preserves remains of walls and ruins that show how the hermitage was larger than it appears today, as well as frescoes visible on the damp cave walls. Inside there is also a marble basin that collects water dripping from the rock, traditionally used for devotion by women who lacked milk,

Walking along via S. Egidio, you will find the beginning of this short but very suggestive path inside a "via cava" (roads dug through the tuff that connected the bottom of the valley with the territories above and, in other areas, were also used to drain excess water from agricultural land). This via cava is full of caves dug directly into the tuff, probably used as stables or cellars to store wine or food.

The meri are very deep karst cavities. Easy path to follow. Start from the large Sant'Oreste car park, the one below the road. There are three of them, all close together. On the same path, a little further on, there is the church in the cave of Santa Romana, a beautiful place that deserves to be visited.

The Forre di Corchiano (vie cave) are works declared a natural monument. They are located in the town of Corchiano (which stands on a tufaceous cliff), the vie cave are a work created by man. It is a vertical cut to create a road that softens the sometimes harsh slopes of nature.

The Meri del Soratte are wells (three in total) that are connected to each other. Already known in the times of Pliny the Elder, these wells, according to him, are the gateway to the Kingdom of the Underworld.

This church was dedicated to the Saint of Todi. The peculiarity of this church consecrated in 1218 is that it was built inside a cave.

One of the few saints who is also highly valued outside of Christianity is San Francesco, known in the German-speaking world as Francis of Assisi. Francis was born in Assisi in 1181/82 and died as early as 1226. In his youth, the son of wealthy parents, he was more of a bon vivant, but later he turned to Christ. In the half-ruined little church of San Damiano, on the hillside outside the city walls of Assisi, he was praying one day and heard the voice of Christ coming down from the cross, urging him to “rebuild his church”. At first he took this request literally and restored the church building, later he came to realize that this is primarily about the church as the community of believers. Francis became a role model for many people, they joined him and the "Order of the Friars Minor" (Ordo Fratrum Minorum) of Francis of Assisi came into being. Today in the broad Franciscan religious family there are three male branches: the Franciscans, the Minorites and the Capuchins; and two females: the Franciscans and the Poor Clares. In addition, there is the "Third" or "Secular" order, which women and men who do not take the classic vows of the order (poverty, chastity and obedience) and continue to live in their family and their profession can join.

Easy stroll, don’t be fooled by the beginning, the views later on are amazing.