Nature Trail in Acquacheta

Welcome to Acquacheta Valley

Acquacheta has become famous for its spectacular waterfall. However, this is not the only interesting aspect of the path: it leads us in fact to the Piana dei Romiti, where the village of the Romiti, now reduced to a few ruins, is placed on a rocky spur. In this location stood the hermitage of the Abbey of S. Benedetto in Alpe, founded in 986 by San Romualdo from Ravenna, founder of the Hermitage of Camaldoli.

It was instead 1302 when Dante, exiled from Florence and directed to Forlì, stopped at Romiti with the Monks. The poet admired the waterfall and used it as a comparison for the jump of the Phlegeton in the 16th round of Hell.

Come quel fiume c’ha proprio cammino
prima da monte Veso inver levante,
dalla sinistra costa d’apennino,
che si chiama Acquacheta suso, avante
che si divalli giù nel basso letto,
e a Forlì di quel nome è vacante,
rimbomba là sovra San Benedetto
dell’Alpe, per cadere ad una scesa
dove dovria per mille esser recetto;
così giù d’una ripa discoscesa
trovammo risonar quell’acqua tinta,
sì che in poc’ora avria l’orecchia offesa.
(Inferno, XVI, 94-105

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