Along the Giovenzano Valley

The route winds along the Giovenzano Valley, a left tributary of the Aniene River, near the area between Vicovaro and Mandela, and the Via Empolitana, which runs from the Passo della Fortuna, the pass connecting to the Empiglione Valley, toward Subiaco, skirting the southern edge of the Ruffi Mountains. The symbolic endpoints of the route are two key sites of Benedictine monasticism in the Aniene Valley: the Convent of Saints Cosma and Damiano and, on the southern slope of the Prenestini Mountains, the Marian Sanctuary of Mentorella. Near the Passo della Fortuna is the archaeological site of Trebula Suffenas, just beyond the rural church and hospital of Santa Maria Maddalena. The route continues along the Via Empolitana eastward, toward the Subiaco Valley, retracing an ancient transhumance route.