canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Fosso Procchio

The typical village of Tuscia stands on a tuff cliff overlooking a lush valley bordered by vertical walls, a cliff that is like an island connected to the surrounding plateau through an easily defensible isthmus with fortifications and ditches. The houses, built of tuff, seem to be part of the cliff, and partly is just like that since each has basement rooms carved into the rock, rooms that in some cases have openings in the cliff wall. In the alleys and squares of the village the visitor is welcomed by the quietness: only few people still lives in the buildings of the old town, the agricultural activities are less practiced than once, the tuff canyons have turned back wild, but the signs and the testimonies of the past human activities are everywhere. And since these places are inhabited since millenniums, the historical testimonies tell us about different ages, complex events, populations that settle, then fall into decline, new people coming from northern Europe or the Near East, agreements, reforms , wars, trade, ...

Most of the villages of Tuscia remain out of mass tourism. There are a few exceptions, however, and the most relevant is Pitigliano.
The village and the territory of Pitigliano have all the best features of Tuscia, plus a unique thing: Pitigliano hosted for centuries an important Jewish community, well-integrated in the local society. The Jewish buildings (the Synagogue and its annexed rooms, dug in the tuff), recently restored by the Municipality of Pitigliano, are open to visitors, who can thus know an important part of the history of these places and of Jewish culture.

To underline the unique characteristics of Pitigliano, here we find one of the very few canyoning routes that develop in tuff rock. Right next to the cliff (almost in the village) Fosso Procchio goes through a short gorge surrounded by luxuriant vegetation, with a couple of beautiful waterfalls visible from the village's belvedere.

I remember ...

I had already passed by Pitigliano, at least a couple of times, and I was obviously impressed by the sight of this compact village perched on a tuff rock, but I had never stopped to visit it. I always do this way, because I prefer to come back on purpose and turn it around calmly, sharing the pleasure and the emotions of the visit with my wife.
Parked the car we entered the village teeming with tourists from everywhere. As always in Tuscia, the village begins with a fortress that closed it preventing access to enemies. Behind, a square rises where once was a moat dug to defend the village. The opposite ends of the square overlook the two sides of the cliff of Pitigliano, narrow and long, offering a beautiful view of the cliff and the valleys below.

Needless to say, you know me: the thing that struck me the most by looking out from Pitigliano's belvedere was the water jet of Procchio waterfalls.

Photos and video by Michele Angileri and Giorgio Ecker

Copyright © 2002- Michele Angileri. All rights reserved.