It is a walk in the mystery, the one in the abandoned village of ancient Galeria, less than an hour from Rome. A gate marks the entrance to the path and warns explorers: beware of wild animals.
Ph. Roberta Venditti
What nature created among the ruins of this ghost town is majestic: it is no coincidence that the Lazio Region in 1999 proclaimed Galeria an ancient natural monument. Ivy climbs the walls of abandoned houses, as if it wanted to preserve them. Trees grows inside open-air rooms, which were once kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms. Branches and roots tangle around what remains of a past life, as if to say: we support you so that your memories and your traces can survive. Stories of life breathe between caves and holm oaks and oaks.
Ph. Roberta Venditti
The roar of the waters of the river Arrone that flows continuously is a sweet and delicate soundtrack. At every step you feel like being suddenly in front of the river. But the river is not there. You look for it overlooking the valley from what were once the borders of the town, sheltered on a spur of tuff rock, but Arrone is not to be seen. Yet the maps say that it flows right here, to the west of the village, protected by thick hedges and tall trees.
Ph. Roberta Venditti
Why the people of Galeria in the eighteenth century suddenly abandoned their life in this village to start over in a new place, in Santa Maria di Galeria, not far from here, is part of the mystery. Perhaps due to an epidemic of malaria, made ungovernable by the waters of the river Arrone, which overflowing favored its spread.
Ph. Roberta Venditti
Galeria remains in the heart, when you leave you already know that you will come back there, driven by a curiosity that a single walk will not satisfy. Like the ghost Senz'Affanni (that is: Without worries): according to the legend, the spirit of a local who returns every year among the ruins, the elms and the foxes hidden in the ravines, riding his white horse, to dedicate a love song to his woman.