LA CIOCIARIA, the land of the Cyclops

1° Day Anagni

Arrival in Fiuggi, lunch and accommodation in hotel. In the afternoon departure for Anagni, witness to the most important events in the Middle Ages, town of four Popes, one being Bonifacio VIII, the Pope who in 1300 declared the first ever Jubilee. Visit to the magnificent Romanesque Cathedral, dating back to the year 1077, then changed into Gothic style in the thirteenth century, its crypt, also called the “Sistine Chapel of the Middle Ages”, with frescos dating back to the years 1231-1255. A tour of the old part, entirely medieval: the Palazzo Civico, the Casa Barnekow and the Palazzo di Bonifacio VIII with the famous room of the slap. Stop at a wine cellar for some Cesanese doc. wine tasting. Return to hotel for evening meal and accommodation

2° Day Veroli – Ferentino

After breakfast in the hotel, departure for Veroli, the town in the Ciociaria area richest in history, art and culture. Today you can still see traces of the Polygonal Walls in the Rocca di San Leucio dating back to pre-Roman times, while the Fasti Verulani (I century AD) date back to Roman times., an extraordinary stone calendar with all the Roman holidays. A tour of the old part: the Basilica di San Salome, with its Scala that has the same benefits as that of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, the Cathedral of Sant’Andrea, with its elegant façade that embellishes the main square, the interesting Museo delle Erbe where you can see hundreds of classified collections of plants that grow naturally on the Monti Ernici, and the Romanesque Church of Sant’Erasmo, where the enormous canvas painting by Taddeo Kuntze is kept, showing the meeting in Veroli between the ambassador of Federico Barbarossa and Pope Alessandro III. A walk along Borgo S. Croce, once the artisan part of the town...For those who wish, a stop at an oil mill where you can sample slices of home made bread with extra virgin olive oil. Return to Fiuggi for lunch. After lunch in the hotel, departure for Ferentino, a town whose origins go very far back in time, where even today you can still see the megalithic, circular wall that is about two kilometres long and has twelve gates. Visit to the polygonal shaped Roman market inside the city walls of the acropolis, dating back to the I century BC, with the Romanesque Dome of the XI century and the Bishop’s Palace of the XIII century. The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, the first example of Cistercian architecture in Italy, is particularly interesting. A stop at the Roman theatre and the Porta Sanguinaria, reminding us of the days of the terrible wars between the Ernici and the Romans. Evening meal in Fumone, in the “Taverna del Barone” a typical restaurant with period costumes and music from a barrel organ. Return to hotel for evening meal and accommodation.

3° Day Piana delle Orme

After breakfast in the hotel, departure for a spectacular visit (the only one of its kind) ) to the History Museum of Piana delle Orme, a park built specifically with history in mind, where you can see one of the biggest and most complete collections in the world: aeroplanes, tanks, trains, carts, radios, arms and hundreds of military vehicles, tractors, threshing machines, trams and buses, tools and thousands of every type of object. Dedicated to the twentieth century, the entire museum is like a journey covering 50 years of Italian history. 14 PAVILIONS, EACH COVERING A DIFFERENT ASPECT: the traditions and culture of agricultural Italy, the great resoration works, the Second World War, but also vehicles and means of transport at the dawn of the great industrialisation, as well as the toys children of the past used to play with. Lunch in restaurant.