At a distance of 42 km from Rome, we find the “Town of the Cherries” in the heart of the Natural Regional Park of the Lucretili Mountains. This is Moricone, a little town on high ground on the north-west slopes of the Lucretili Mountains, overlooking the Tiber Valley.
Moricone lies in the area that produces Olive Oil Sabina DOP, and the Museum of Rural Landscapes and Olive Cultivation, located in the deconsecrated Old Church, illustrates its history. Exhibits cover botanical, historical, artistic and ethnographic subjects, explaining the various stages of olive growing and olive oil production by means of multimedia installations, video projections, illustrative panels, mechanical games and dioramas. An interactive video allows one to magically grow an olive tree!
The old town, typically medieval, is dominated by the Rocca, a castle dating from the year 1000 on the top of Mount Morrecone. In the main square, of particular interest is the Baronial Palace, built by Marcantonio Borghese in 1619, today in private hands. A few years previously, the same aristocrat had built the old aqueduct that carried water from the Casoli spring, from where you can glimpse the impressive bridge, the Ponte del Diavolo.
Don’t be afraid if you see steam issuing from the ground – this is the magical Pozzo Fornillo, a cave of karstic origin from which cloudy wisps of steam rise in winter.
Moricone produces the most delicious cherries, peaches, grapes and the olives for Extra-virgin Olive Oil Sabina DOP, which is excellent on bruschetta and much appreciated in the festival in mid January honouring St Antonio Abate.
On the first Sunday of July, there is the commemoration of the Blessed Bernardo with the popular Bernardiadi games. On 22 August it is the turn of the Patron Saint of the Assunta. On 8 September there is the celebration for the Madonna del Passo, with a curious procession during which rhymes are composed and decorations made of leaves are thrown at the statue of the Madonna.