Tour n

Tour n. 3 :

"In the footsteps of Cicero and Caio Mario"

2.30 Departure for Isola Liri and guided visit to the the monastery of St. Domenico

Abbot built over the birth place of Cicero and to the Waterfall of Isola del Liri.

§ The pre-roman Acropolis “Civitavecchia” with the medieval tower of Cicero

E.g. for this tour and start from 55 euros per person (for 15 participants) to max 165 euros per person (for 4 participants). As soon as we know the number of participants we will make an offer.

Your e-Mail reservation will guarantee a 7 days confirmation option, during which you will need to provide us with Visa or MasterCard data (Holder's name as it appears on the Card, Number and Expiration Date) as a guarantee for the services being booked, therefore no charge will be made. Upon receipt of the Credit Card Data we will consider the option confirmed. We kindly request, if possible, that you make your reservation at least seven days before the beginning of the service

Veroli - Casamari – Isola del Liri – Arpino

The gothic-cistercian Abbey of Casamari, situated in the mountains, not far from Frosinone, is one of the most stunning reminders of the middle ages that you will ever encounter. The Casamari Abbey provides a glimpse into the evolution of religious customs that are still practiced today, in addition to providing clues about the daily existence of people living in the Middle Ages. The first impression of the monastery will be one that you will not soon forget. To the peasants of the 13th century, the high stone walls must have made it seem like only the will of God could have created such a place. If you are at the Casamari Abbey at 11 am on a Sunday morning, you will hear mass being called by the melodic sound of bells ringing in the tower high above. It has been done that way for hundreds of years. The ceremony that is performed here is a re-creation of the Last Supper which is performed in Gregorian chant. Not far from Casamari lies the enchanting hilltop village of Veroli. There will be a guided visit to the most important sites of the historical centre. First, the Basilica of S. Maria Salome, the mother of the apostles John and James the Greater, who is buried here. This comely church, set in an attractive ecclesiastical complex, dates back to the thirteenth century, but has been damaged by earthquakes over the centuries and much altered. There are some interesting thirteenth-century frescoes in the crypt, but what makes the church unique is its own Scala Santa, declared by Benedict XIV in the 1740s to be on a par with that in Rome and functioning as a convenient and local means to indulgences. Nearby is the cathedral of S. Andrea, not particularly distinguished architecturally on account of rebuilding, but containing an unexpectedly rich treasury. The most important piece, a twelfth-century Arabo-Sicilian ivory casket was sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1863, but there are more similar caskets left, mediaeval crosses, chalices and church plate in silver. Now on through Veroli, out the other side, and onto the road which loops round to the south towards Isola del Liri. After some twelve kms the spectacular waterfall comes into view on the left. Although the site was inhabited at the beginning of the Iron Age, its first official documents indicate the birth of the city around 1004, with the name "Colle d'Isola". Its native core rises up from a very little island (Isola) at the center of the Liri River, in proximity to the confluence with the Fibreno River. Right in the center of the city you can admire the majestic and spectacular Cascata Grande (Big Waterfall), named as such because there was at on time a little one parallel to it that was then closed. Here the waters of the Liri make an almost thirty meter drop; it's "urban" position makes it truly original. At the margins of the waterfall rises the Boncompagni-Viscogliosi Castle, with its park. The Isola del Liri has hosted the "Liri Blues Festival" for several years and has become an interesting meeting place for those who love this kind of music; it takes place between the end of June and the beginning of July. Now head towards Sora and visit to the 11th century monastery of St. Domenicus Abbot whose church was built on the ruins of the villa of Cicero where the roman orator was born. This site is located halfway between the historical town of Sora and the modern Isola Liri where the little river Fibreno runs into the Liri. The site of the orator’s anchestral villa has been exactly determined from his own fine description in “De Legibus”. Our tour in the footsteps of Cicero continues, of course, in Arpino, place of refinement and distinction since it was the hometown of the most famous Roman orator. Arpino, Cicero’s childhood home, now is a handsome medieval town pitched on a ridge in the landscape. As in so many once-Roman settlements, Arpino’s modern central piazza stands precisely where the ancient forum stood 2,000 years ago, and the town’s main church sits where the main pagan temple used to be. Admire the doughty, fruit-coloured buildings climbing up from the piazza, and then we will visit the ancient apex of the town – the acropolis. Taking the form of a grassy hilltop meadow, strewn with crumbling bits of fortification, Arpino’s acropolis reveals there was life here long before the Romans. Cyclopean or ‘polygonal’ walls, and an unusual Mycenae-style pointed arch gateway attest that ancient peoples dwelling here for hundreds of years before the Roman arrived. From this vantage point of history, the view is breathtaking, little Arpino unfurling its maze of terra cotta rooftops on the olive-skirted ridge below, and all of Ciociaria’s wild green landscape spreading beyond it.