Life as a Buttero

a stroll through the roman countryside

As true city dwellers, we don't always realize that our ancestors were immersed in a different environment, with a contact with the territory decidedly different from ours; on this reflection, but also to enjoy one last glimpse of vacation right before the start of the school year, we set off for a place actually not too far from Rome, kilometrically speaking, but fascinatingly distant from our daily life.

The first stop is in Canale Monterano, a small town just after Manziana and its wood, delightfully well-kept, with a delightful bakery that makes truly remarkable little biscuits and dry pastries! Walking along a sort of mule track, a legacy of the ancient Etruscan road, we arrive at a wooden gate, like the ones at American ranches, so we leave the car and decide to walk down the downhill path that leads to the iron-rich river below, to the nearby hot water springs and the beautiful surrounding pastures. The descent is not easy, but the satisfaction of arriving near the river, lined with a small grove, repays us for the effort.

The environment around us is more varied than ever: the river with its grassy banks, wooden fences for the livestock, which we still don't see around, a bridge, also made of wood, where they filmed the movie L'Armata Brancaleone, the pools of hot sulfurous water... It's very nice to stroll around these parts and look around with curious eyes! We follow the course of the river for a while and find ourselves in a decidedly western environment! Cows and horses grazing and huts for the shelter of the butteri, our local cowboys (but you mustn't call them that because they get angry!) we sit on the riverbank and dabble a bit in the water flowing cool: how far away the city is!

In the ghost town

After the quick stop at the bakery in the new town, Canale Monterano, we set off to discover the ghost town, ancient Monterano. Its history is very peculiar, in fact it seems that it was very prosperous and flourishing and the church and the old center are evidence of this, with a decidedly beautiful and large fountain, it seems by Bernini or his school. Unfortunately due to epidemics and perhaps also some earthquake tremors, the city gradually emptied and the inhabitants settled in a slightly more sheltered area, not far from the canyon that the river had carved out over millennia, the current Canale Monterano.

Nature began to take over the limestone spur on which Monterano stood and various plants covered houses, palaces, fountains, churches giving the place a decidedly mysterious air: it is said that it was even haunted by ghosts! From these few pieces of information it's easy to imagine how fantastic it is to explore these places that have been rediscovered and partly restored in recent years: here too several films were shot, including Il Marchese del Grillo! The green among the ochre and honey-colored ruins is beautiful and there's plenty of space to play and have picnics!

life at the castle

today we move to Bracciano, a slightly larger center than Canale Monterano, with a beautiful old village, dominated by the Orsini Odescalchi castle, still partly inhabited by the heirs of the noble family. We join a very kind guide who explains a lot of things to us as we walk through the various rooms of the castle. Thus we discover that many famous people stayed here, like Lucrezia Borgia! The rooms are very well kept and there are truly spectacular views of the lake area! Among the last things we see are the kitchens: there were huge fireplaces in each of which an entire ox could be cooked!

lakeside relaxation

today we relax a bit at the lake: Lake Bracciano has very welcoming shady shores and clear, cool water, too bad it's paved with big stones that hurt like hell on your feet and are also slippery! But we equip ourselves with reef shoes so we can dive in without worry! This is the life!