LE STRADE DEI PARCHI - Naturainviaggio.It

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Tratto VICOVARO - JENNE
Arsoli Jenne
Another destination is the top of the Autore Mountain (1855 metres), the highest
peak of the province of Rome, from which it is possible to take in at a glance
almost an entire drainage basin (the one of the Simbrivio river) and where in
clear days the view sweeps over half Central Italy, from the Gran Sasso peak to
the Tyhrrenian sea.
From Livata one carries on toward the village of Jenne till he reaches another
area shaped by the karst process and surrounded by beech trees. It is the Fondi
Plain where, close to an ancient forest refuge, it’s possible to take a rest sitting at
the tables of a pic-nic area.
All around there are lots of signs of karst phenomena, caused by the slow rainwater
capacity to melt calcareous rocks in order to seep through them. Dolines,
ground depressions of variable size and depth, form because of the intense flowing
of water to one absorption point (swallow-hole). Karst plateaus, big basins
surrounded by high grounds and devoid of any water course trace, are generated,
as time goes by, when different dolines join up.
About a kilometre after the Fondi Plain a path on the right leads to the entrance of
the so called Red Clay Pit, completely fenced for security reasons. It’s a vertical karst
well, accessible only by experienced speleologists, that goes down in different parts for
a total depth of 117 metres.
Its presence, as well as the one of many other caves, is the result of the fact that karst
phenomena seep through and go down to depth, in the heart of mountain ranges,
where the water, filtering into the cracks, keeps on corroding the limestones. In this
way, extended systems of underground spaces form (pits, galleries, rooms, passages),
often communicating.
Deep karst phenomena are fully developed in the Simbruini area. Among more
than a hundred explored cavities the most important are the Inferniglio Cave
nearby Jenne, expanding almost at the same level for about 1,4 km, and the Camposecco
Swallow-hole that goes down to a depth of 415 metres.