Any story could have Mount Soratte as a context. It is a place that stimulates stories. It is no coincidence that the Romans confused the Italic god Soranus with Apollo, the protector of poetry.
Ph. Federico Cadalanu - Trentaremi
Stories of contemplation
After all, the Lazio countryside inspired Virgil’s Bucoliche. And Horace, the poet who encouraged to seize the moment and enjoy the little things, saw the Soratte whitened by the snow and drew the desire to enjoy the wine and fire of his symposium. No worries on Mount Soratte. At the worst, a little shortness of breath while climbing it, but nothing more. Even the most hidden corners offer a bench where you can recover your strength and admire the landscape in silence, among the very high ferula and the maple. Almost two thousand years after Horace, the german general Heinrich Kreipe, imprisoned by the Americans on the island of Crete, sang his own verses towards the snow-clad Mount Ida. His jailer, commander Patrick Leigh Fermor, declaimed the same verses with him. Disasters may stop in front of the Soratte.
The viewpoint of Monte Soratte | Ph. Federico Cadalanu - Trentaremi
War stories
Soratte could have been the scene of violent conflicts. During the Second World War the Germans forced Italians to work in the caves of the mountain, which had become their new base of operations. Meanwhile, American bombs were falling from the sky. Then the cold war came, which did not drop bombs on Italy, but in 1967 nobody could know. So an anti-atomic shelter was dug inside the mountain for the government. Previously other battles had been fought on those peaks. Pope Silvestro had hidden there in the fourth century to escape the persecution of Constantine. And it is precisely to Silvestro that the hermitage on the top of the mountain is dedicated, which watches over, where the Christian faith found the strength to defeat the pagans. A few years later the word of Christ would spread throughout the empire.
Ph. Federico Cadalanu - Trentaremi
Ph. Federico Cadalanu - Trentaremi
Mystery stories
A mountain so high in the middle of a plain triggered the religious impulses of various peoples. Dressed as wolves, the Etruscans sacrificed animals and walked on hot coals in honor of Soranus. Even later, with the German occupation, Francesco, an Italian worker, in his free hours went away to talk to the birds in a strange language. The people of Sant’Oreste called him Saint Francis. The day the American bombs fell, the Italians were all in the safe areas of the mountain. Francesco had warned them, after speaking with the birds in that strange language.
Ph. Federico Cadalanu - Trentaremi
Legends
The German commander Kesselring was forced to flee too many American bombs and was forced to hide here the assets seized from the Bank of Italy and the Jewish community. Whether this is legend or truth is unknown. There were many places to hide goods, since the many Soratte caves are not all explored. From Horace to Indiana Jones, among hidden treasures, bad Germans and secret caves, the Soratte is a place that suggest stories. From the deepest cave to the highest peak, near the hermitage of San Silvestro, where you can see the entire Tiber valley. The marine sediments on the mountain tell us that once upon a time you could see the sea, but nobody is here to tell it.