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The story is also depicted in the valuable 14th century fresco in the Chapel built right after the Saint's death in the same grotto where the Saint assembled the Crib. Since 1972, during the Christmas season, a series of live open-air scenes are organized so that the experience of the firs Crib can be renewed. The Temple of Saint FrancisIn 1939 Pope Pius XII declared Saint Francis the Patron Saint of Italy. In order to celebrate the event, the Franciscan friars decided to build a monument on Terminillo at 1623 m. above sea level. They erected the national Votive Temple. Work began in 1949 and 25,000 cubic meters of rock was carved out in order to house the church which was consecrated in 1964. The building is a harmonious fusion of architecture, mosaic, sculpture and church ornaments of high artistic quality. A casket in the Saint Francis chapel holds the most precious relic: an urn containing remains of the Saint in front of which a votive lamp burns eternally. Saint Francis' beech treeSt. Francis withdrew often in the Holy Valley in order to find the solitude offered by the extraordinary natural elements of the places. One of the most fascinating is the St. Francis' beech tree, a monumental tree with its foliage that extends to 22 meters in diameter. The tree is famous for its extraordinary form, with branches that entwine, creating curves and knots with unusual beauty. It is fruit of a spontaneous mutation undergone in only rare examples throughout the world. According to tradition, during a storm, the tree took on this form in order to protect St. Francis who had been praying there. One can get there by following a secondary road from Rivodutri that goes to Cepparo; one continues, submerged in nature, up to the foot of Mount Fausola (1100 meters) where a sign indicates a small path which leads to this extraordinary beech tree.
Sources say that as a token to the love and affection he held for the poor and the sick, St. Francis donated, his cloak and twelve loaves to a poor woman from Machilone with sick eyes who did not have the money for a cure.
Ancient sources claim that the Saint was forced to use a boat to cross the basin to get from one side to the other. At the time, large mammals populated the area, including deer that subsequently found refuge in the hills before indiscriminate hunting wiped them out altogether. St. Francis used to converse with the elements of nature that surrounded him on a daily basis. But what does the area, that prompted the Saint's mystic fervor, look like today? It's certain that St. Francis knew the towns of Poggio Bustone, Greccio, Fonte Colombo, La Foresta, the best known Franciscan localities of the Rieti area. But there are others worth noting, either because they are the site of miraculous events - like St. Elia - or because they are linked to legends passed down through the ages, like the legend of the beech three on the mountain above Cepparo di Rivodutri. The Walk of Francis includes Pian de' Valli on Mount Terminillo and the village of Posta in the high valley of the Velino. The vegetations one encounters on the various itineraries is extremely rich and mutable according to the season. Species variety is so abundant that it's rare to encounter it elsewhere. The lakes of the plan (at 370 meters above the sea) are in good state of preservation, lush with the vegetation, typical of areas that are both perennially submerged and dry in others parts. Surrounding the lakes of Ventina, Ripa Sottile, Lungo or Cantalice, Fogliano to name the most important, are forests mostly populated by willow trees, white poplars, black elders along with travelers-joy, bramble bushes and hop, which ensure a large degree of diversity. In certain periods of the year, these are inhabited by cormorants, egrets, grey herons, marsh harriers, buzzards and the like. The riverbeds are framed by vegetation typical of marshy areas. The water irises are especially beautiful during the spring bloom. The marshy areas provide home to many birds that find their ideal habitat here and come to nest. Thus little grebes, whistle ducks, mallards, teals, pilchards, spoon-billed ducks, bulls of the bog, little egrets, moorhens and other birds live in these areas where land, water and plants seem to merge into one extraordinary ecosystem. But similar woods are present along the rivers Velino, Salto, St. Susanna. This is the ideal environment for porcupines, foxes and other wild game. Beyond the fields, the geometry of bushes and the unique, woods defined by olive groves, the mixed broad-leaved forest becomes the protagonist. Normally these are deciduous species that lose their leaves after autumn's bright palette of colors dulling the landscape into depressing tones. Oak trees, the friendly giants of the forest, spring up here and there. Up higher, chestnuts form, woods, that have always been planted and cared for by man. Known as the tree of bread and good wood, the broad trunk chestnut brings us into an enchanted fairytale world, that's not just, in our imagination. Surrounding the Sanctuaries, at times forming a crown around the walls, are Holm-oak woods. They have been there from time immemorial and with their dark green foliage they confer an air of solemnity to the environment. Higher still a beech forest, dominates the landscape, the tall column like trunks decorated by multicolored lichens, which stand silhouetted against a winter's sky or against the warm green of the hot season or against brilliant autumn colors. The territory belongs to animals that take shelter from man, but make their presence known especially once the sun goes down. It's the land of the fox and the badger, squirrel and dormouse, woodpeckers and jay, wise old owl, and the hoot owl with its sad song along with hundreds of other song birds. To sum up, along the paths trodden by St. Francis one finds the simplest - hence the most sublime-spirituality. One climbs with the trees, following the changing landscape. Below the fields speak of ancient history, of a farming community that for centuries lived off the resources of the land, at times generous mother, at times hostile antagonist.
A history written by pollard willow trees, elms used to steer vines, oaks
the provided, shade to herds, poplars that towered along the ditches.
Following the Walk, panoramas, open up unexpectedly: high plateaus and deep
valleys, thick forest and immense isolated trees. Iitineraries courtesy of Azienda Promozione Turistica di Rieti
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