There is a magical place in the south of Umbria, not far from Terni, where, due to the vagaries of the climate and perhaps the man's hand, the Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) grows spontaneously. It is one of the 4 (and only 4!) places of origin of this conifer in Italy.
But not only that: together with the pine, the cypress (Cupressus sp.), a symbol-tree of Umbria, also thrives. These trees, here, are generally associated with a particular soil, formed by a gray-blue marly limestone rock, typical of the Umbrian-Sabina area, which has a very particular structure that tends to flake off, eroding easily and creating gullies with colorful and bizarre shapes. This natural scenario is only the first of the aspects that make this hilly-mountain area, a place with a mysterious and fascinating character. We are between Terni and Spoleto and this area, even today, although almost 1500 years have passed, is known to the Umbrians by the name of "Terre Arnolfe", or lands which, in the Longobard age, used to form a single gigantic fiefdom, which was also including part of the Terni basin nearby, up to Narni and part of Nera Valley! An enormous land estate owned by a dinasty whose founder was a Count named Arnolfo... The "Arnolfe lands" constituted part of the "Patrimony of Sant Peter", the territorial base of the ecclesiastical power. In historical times these lands, guarded by numerous castles, united under a common statute, were downsized and ended up including some mountain villages, including Macerino, the town that will be our starting point... Around Macerino, beyond the pine and cypress woods, already mentioned, you can admire a countryside where nature dominates and human presence is very rare. Some small churches also remind us of the presence of monks and hermits in the past. From the 5th century southern Umbria was affected by oriental monasticism, these were monks coming from Syria, looking for destinations where they could exercise their hermit experience and bring an authentic message of spirituality, coincidentally the "Aleppo pine" and the Cypress are spontaneous essences in the eastern Mediterranean: did the monks bring them? Some actually support it with some certainty…. The “circle of the landscape” is closed…