Cascata delle Marmore (Marmore Cascade, Marmore Falls)

Cascata delle Marmore

 

Location: 8 km from Terni, Umbria   Map

Height total: 165 meters

Highest drop: 83 meters

Created: 271 BC by Roman consul Manlius Curius Dentatus

Open: 11am- 1pm and 3-5 pm daily

Official site

Ticket Fee

Full: 7 Euro

Children (6- 12 years): 5 Euro

Kids under 6: Free

 

Cascata delle Marmore is located 8 km from Terni in Umbria province of Italy. This magnificent waterfall consists of a series of cascades with a total height of 165 meters with a highest drop measuring at 83 meters. The cascades at a cliff near a community of Marmore are a human creation. Beginning of Cascata delle Marmore date back to the Ancient Roman times. Ancient Romans diverted flow of Velino river to create this marvel in 271 BC during consulate of Manlius Curius Dentatus. It was done to empty the wetlands around the ancient city of Rieti to solve the problem of malaria carrying mosquitoes that bred in the marshlands. However this diversion of Cascata delle Marmore brought about a new problem. During spring months the new course of water threatened another city of Terni. This led to legal mitigation between the two cities in the Roman Senate in 54 BC. Cicero represented the city of Terni and city of Rieti was represented by Aulus Pompeius. Roman senators refused to give any conclusive answers to complaints so the Cascata delle Marmore waterfall remained in place. Over time the canal (Curiano Trench) was overgrown and covered in geological deposit thus decreasing the water flow. Re- emerging marshes brought back the problem with malaria.
 
In 1422 Pope Gregory XII ordered cleaning of the trench that became known as a Gregorian or a Rieti Trench. Later it was expanded and cleaned again under Pope Paul III in 1545 and became known as a Pauline Trench. Today the waters of the Cascata delle Marmore waterfall are used to power a hydro plant. It opens its valves to release water between 11am and 1pm and again between 3pm and 5pm. During holidays these hours are extended. In order to get to the water falls you will have to pay a small fee. The site has many trails around the Cascata delle Marmore or Marmore Falls of variable lengths and difficulty.

 

Description

The waterfall is formed by the Velino river which, near the hamlet of Marmore, flows from the lake of Piediluco and plunges with a crash into the underlying Nera gorge. It is part of the Nera river park.

The waters of the waterfall are used for the production of hydroelectric energy. Normally only a part of the water of the Velino river (average flow rate 50 m³ / s) is diverted towards the waterfall (about 30%, equivalent to about 15 m³ / s). The waterfall is therefore not always open at full capacity. When open to minimal flow, the waterfall uncovers the rocks and vegetation below.

An acoustic signal warns of the opening of the regulation gates, and in a few minutes the flow rate increases until it gives it the familiar appearance. Access to the park is possible from below (lower belvedere) and from above (upper belvedere) with payment of a ticket. Several paths run through the park and it is possible to walk between the two viewpoints, both uphill and downhill.

At night the waterfall is always illuminated by an advanced latest generation LED system, which guarantees a beam of light and uniform illumination.

 

Flora and fauna

The flora and fauna at the waterfalls is typical of the Mediterranean scrub. The waterfall is characterized by its extraordinary biological richness. There are numerous plants that belong both to primitive forms (blue and green algae, mosses, liverworts and lichens), and to evolved organisms such as macromycetes; aquatic and terrestrial vascular plants (ferns and plants with flowers). To these botanical presences must be added the numerous zoological species belonging to insects, amphibians, fish, reptiles, birds and small mammals.

The importance of this biodiversity is testified by the fact that the area of ​​the Marmore Falls park has been recognized at European level as SIC (SIC) and Special Protection Area (SPA) of the Natura 2000 European Ecological Network. rare or even unique birds in Italy. Some examples: The dipper and the yellow wagtail that feed along the banks and in the bed of the Nera; the colorful Kingfisher that can be observed during winter migrations; the Mountain Swallow and the Blue Rock Thrush that nest in the bare rocky walls and the White Dancer who builds the mud nest under the roofs of the houses near the waterfall; the Nightingale that inhabits the hygrophilous vegetation; the Moorhen and the Mallard.

The Marmore waterfall is part of the network of Environmental Education Centers (CEA) of the Umbria Region.

 

Caves

Over the centuries, water has carved caves with stalactites and stalagmites in the travertine. Some caves can be visited and represent a still little known aspect of the Marmore waterfall.

 

Cascade Park

The area of ​​the Marmore Falls is equipped with visitor trails, an Environmental Education Center and services. It is possible to carry out guided tours and outdoor activities managed by qualified personnel. Access to the area is subject to charges and the Park opens at variable times depending on the season.

 

Accessibility

The lower belvedere is located along the state road 209 Valnerina and is connected to the motorway via the "Valnerina" junction of the Rieti-Terni highway. It is served by a bus stop where various bus lines pass that connect it to the Terni railway station: the direct urban line 7 / Terni-Cascata, the urban line 7 Terni-Torre Orsina, and the extra-urban line 621 directed to Arrone, Ferentillo, Montefranco , Scheggino.

The upper belvedere can instead be reached via the "Marmore" junction of the Rieti-Terni highway; it is served by public transport with the small station of Marmore, located along the secondary railway Terni-L'Aquila, and with a bus stop where the extra-urban line 624 Terni-Colli sul Velino passes.

 

History

prehistoric era
About 100 thousand years ago, the Velino River flowed into the Nera, but as the Nera deepened its valley, the Velino waters enriched with calcium carbonate, on the contrary, formed a huge travertine plug on the border with the Nera valley. As a result, a large lake was formed in the Rieti valley. As a result of many years of fluctuations in its level, vast wetlands have appeared, because of which the local population, the Sabines, suffered from malaria.

Antiquity
After the conquest in 290 BC. Sabines Romans Reata (now Rieti) has become an important strategic point on the Salt Road. In this regard, the conqueror of the Sabines, Manius Curius Dentatus, in 271 BC, being a censor, he ordered to make a channel in a travertine rock to drain the waters of the lake (Lacus Velinus, as the Romans called it) to the Nera valley. As a result of the laying of this channel 1000-1100 m long, which received the name Cava Curiana in honor of Manius Curia, a waterfall was formed.

The result of the work was a significant draining of the Reata (Rieti) valley, which is confirmed, in particular, by modern paleoecological data. New areas entered into agricultural circulation, and there was an improvement in the epidemiological situation.

However, the canal and waterfall caused a new problem: periodic floods in the Nera Valley, which threatened the inhabitants of the city of Interamna (now Terni). It is known that in 54-53 years. BC e. the senate considered the lawsuit of the municipalities - Reata and Interamna. To resolve the issue, a commission of 10 senators arrived at the scene, headed by the consul Appius Claudius Pulchrom. The interests of Reata in this lawsuit were represented by Cicero. The problem of floods was not solved then, nor later, when it became aggravated again during the time of the empire. The enmity between the two cities acquired a chronic character and later reached bloodshed.

Medieval and Renaissance
In the Middle Ages, the hydraulic structures left without care gradually fell into disrepair, which led to the shallowing of the waterfall and new flooding of the Rieti valley. By the 14th century, due to malaria epidemics and the reduction of the area suitable for agricultural use, the Rieti Valley was depopulated.

In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, numerous attempts were made to restore drainage from the Rieti Valley:
Cava Reatina (1385); architects - Favarone da Labro, Niccolo da Piediculo and Giovanni da Fermo;
Cava Reatina (1422); customer - Braccio da Montone, architect - Fioravante Fioravanti (father of Aristotle Fioravanti);
Cava Paolina (1547); customer - Pope Paul III, architect - Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (died during construction);
Cava Farnesiana (1549), customer - Pope Paul III (the canal is named after the family to which it belonged);
Cava Gregoriana (1575); customer - Pope Gregory XIII;
Cava Clementina (1601); customer - Pope Clement VIII, architect - Giovanni Fontana (brother of Domenico Fontana).

Of these canals, only the last one, built on the basis of the original canal, the ancient Roman Cava Curiana, has become truly successful.

new time
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Marmore Falls became a popular attraction visited as part of the Grand Tour, as well as a fashionable location for landscape painters. Among the famous visitors to the falls are Salvator Rosa, Corot, William Turner, George Byron and many others.

However, with the restoration of the canal, floods resumed in the Nera Valley. In the second half of the 18th century, the engineer Gaetano Rapini, who dealt with the problem on behalf of Pope Pius VI, proposed closing the Cava Clementina and returning to one of the previous versions of the canal, the flatter Cava Paolina. However, this proposal was rejected by the Holy Congregation of the Waters, in particular, for the reason that by that time the waterfall had already become a famous landmark of the Papal State.

The last significant changes in the design were made in 1787-1793. commissioned by Pius VI under the direction of the architect Andrea Vici. As a result, the waterfall acquired its present form.

Newest time
The problem of floods was solved only in the 20th century, after dams were built on the tributaries of the Velino to regulate the flow of water.

In 1929, the Galleto hydroelectric power station was built in Terni, using flow energy: water is supplied to it through an underground conduit, bypassing a waterfall. For this reason, at present, the waterfall is turned on only for tourists, for a few hours a day, according to the schedule.

In 2006, the Marmore Falls were inscribed on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

 

The legend

There is a legend about the origins of the waterfall, usually told by Gnefro. A fairy creature, a nymph named Nera, fell in love with the young shepherd Velino. It was difficult for the two to meet because they belonged to two too different worlds. Juno, furious, transformed the Black nymph into a river because she had transgressed the rules that did not allow love with human beings. Velino threw himself headlong from the cliff of Marmore believing that Nera was drowning in those waters that were not there before. Jupiter, to avoid certain death, during the flight transformed him into water, so as to be saved and reunited with Nera for eternity.

 

Distinguished visitors

The engineering works and the nature that surrounds it have always attracted a large number of tourists and visitors, so much so as to push for the creation of safe and stable observation places (the Observatory above, Piazzale Byron below, various Belvederes). Among them, it is possible to mention many illustrious personalities: Pliny, Cicero, Fazio degli Uberti, a large number of popes, Galileo Galilei, Vittorio Alfieri, Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, the Queen Mother of Naples, Salvator Rosa, Corot, William Turner , Gioachino Belli, Lord Byron and many others. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the waterfall very often represented a day's visit on the Grand Tour to Rome.

"Room of waters! From the steep hill the Velino cuts through the abyss consumed by the waves. Falling waters! Quick as light, the flashing mass foams, shaking the abyss. Hell of waters! where they scream and hiss and boil in eternal torture; while the sweat of their immense agony, squeezed out by this Phlegethon of theirs, embraces the black rocks that surround the abyss, arranged with pitiless horror, and rises in foam towards the sky, to fall back again in an incessant downpour, which, with its inexhaustible cloud of mild rain, brings an eternal April to the land around, making it all an emerald: - how deep is the abyss! And as from rock to rock the gigantic Element leaps with a frenzied leap, knocking down the cliffs which, worn and rent by his ferocious steps, grant in the abyss a frightful outlet to the mighty column of water which continues to flow and seems rather the source of a young sea, torn from the womb of mountains by the pangs of a new world, which is not only the source of rivers that flow flowing in numerous meanders through the valley! Turn around! See, where it creeps like an Eternity, As if it were to sweep away all in its path, Fascinating the eye with Terror - matchless cataract, hideously beautiful! but on the edge, from side to side, under the glittering morning, rests an iris among the infernal whirlpools, like Hope at a deathbed, and, unworn in its fixed hues, while all around there is torn apart by the waters enraged, serenely raises its bright colors with all their rays intact, and seems, amidst the horror of the scene, Love watching over Madness with unchanging countenance.
(Lord Byron)

 

In painting

Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Valnerina, the Marmore waterfall, Narni are favorite destinations for those who will be called "Plenarists", painters en plen air, who were fascinated by the beauty of the places. Their works are kept both in private homes and in various European museums.

Thanks to the studies of the art historian Luca Tomìo, the famous Leonardo drawing Landscape with river preserved in the Uffizi in Florence is identifiable - as a representation of the landscape of the Marmore Falls, the town of Papigno and the Terni valley. However, this hypothesis is not shared by the entire scientific community as there is no documentary evidence attesting to the presence of Leonardo da Vinci in Terni.

An important position, however, was that of Francesco Scoppola, Director General of Fine Arts and Landscape, of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (Mibact), who, following the publication of the first article (25 November 2016, signed by Marco Torricelli, in the online newspaper umbriaOn) relating to the discovery of Luca Tomìo, intervened in L'Osservatore Romano with an article entitled "It is Umbria, not Tuscany", in fact confirming the arguments illustrated.

Scoppola himself, interviewed in May 2017 by umbriaOn, reiterated: "It seems inevitable to recognize that Leonardo da Vinci visited these places" and that "the landscapes of Umbria, Narni, Amelia, the Marmore Falls are landscapes which can be defined as 'Leonardo' ", while Luca Tomìo clarified that" the objective data of comparison are irrefutable ".

 

The waterfall in cinema, arts, sport

The Italian soprano Gina Palmucci, born in Terni in 1891, chose the stage name of Nera Marmora because she was particularly fond of her territory.
In some scenes of the peplum The Revenge of Hercules of 1960 by the director Cottafavi the Marmore Falls can be clearly identified.
The waterfall is featured in the 1987 film Interview by Federico Fellini.
Stendhal's Syndrome 1996 film by Dario Argento with Asia Argento was partially filmed at the caves and paths of the waterfall.
The waterfall appeared in a scene from Don Matteo's fiction in the episode Stato di ebbrezza
In 2005 there were shot some scenes of the film starring Costantino Vitagliano and Daniele Interrante Troppo belli.
In October 2007 the illusionist Antonio Casanova created an evocative escapology show in the presence of a large audience and the news was broadcast by Striscia.
In 2011 the violinist Uto Ughi held a concert there with the orchestra "I Filarmonici di Roma", later broadcast by Rai Storia.
For the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy in 2011, the three jumps of the waterfall were each illuminated with a color of the Italian flag.
In 2012 Simone Cristicchi held the first concert "Tributo a Sergio Endrigo" there, then repeated in 2015 by Francesca Michielin in the fourth edition.
In the archery discipline, the waterfall hosted the European Field Shooting Championships in 2013 and the 3D Shooting World Championships in 2015.

For some years the waterfall and the lower Valnerina and the middle Tiber valley have been crossed by the Grand Tour Rando cycling event.
In 2015 the artist Igor Borozan exhibited his seven-meter "shirt" in the park of the waterfall. Unpublished work dedicated to the scientist Nikola Tesla.
The canoeist Giovanni De Gennaro, winner, among other things, of the first Marmore River Fest (2015), represented Italy at the Rio Olympics in the K1 canoe specialty.
In November 2015, Gianna Nannini shot the video of the song Tears (one of the four unreleased albums on the Hitstory album) at the Marmore waterfall.
In 2017, the former Italian diver Tania Cagnotto was the protagonist of a spot partially shot at the Marmore Falls for the promotion of tourism in Umbria.
In October 2017 the waterfall appeared in the RAI program "Soliti ignoti - Il Return" thanks to the participation of a tour guide from the management as a character to guess.
In October the traditional competitive and non-competitive "Circuito dell'Acciaio" run takes place, now in its 42nd edition. It will touch the park of the waterfall as usual.