# Calcata and the Treja Valley Calcata Vecchia on its tuff crag, the Monte Gelato waterfalls and the Treja valley trail: a Sunday outing an hour from Rome. Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/lazio/calcata-treja-valley · Revisado: 2026-11-12 The Treja valley is a gorge of volcanic tuff covered in woodland, about 45 km north of Rome, between the provinces of Rome and Viterbo. It's protected by a small regional park of a few hundred hectares, with two villages on the rock, Calcata and Mazzano Romano, a river with waterfalls and the traces of the Faliscans, the people who lived here before Rome arrived. It's the Sunday outing of many Romans: walk by the river in the morning and eat in Calcata. Calcata is the draw. A medieval village with walls the same colour as the rock, on an isolated crag in the middle of the forest, which in the 20th century nearly disappeared and was saved by artists and craftspeople who came from all over Italy and beyond. Today a few dozen people live there, among workshops and shops. ## How do you get there from Rome? By car, around an hour from the centre, via the Flaminia or the Cassia bis. Calcata's old town is closed to cars: park in the new village and walk down. For the valley trail, the starting point is Monte Gelato, in the municipality of Mazzano Romano, with parking next to the waterfalls. Without a car there's no convenient connection for a day: there's no train, and regional buses are scarce. If you don't drive, look at Tivoli or Lake Bracciano, which have trains. ## What to do in the valley? Walk. The Monte Gelato to Calcata trail is the park's classic: 7 km, three and a half hours and only 100 metres of ascent, along the bank of the Treja, the village of Mazzano Romano, a suspension bridge and the remains of a Faliscan temple. It's linear: leave a car at each end or come back the same way. If you have less time, stay at the Monte Gelato waterfalls, or go down from Calcata to the temple of Monte Li Santi and the suspension bridge, an hour and a half there and back. Stroll round the villages. Calcata Vecchia can be seen in an hour: the double gate under the battlements of the Anguillara palace, the square, the deconsecrated church, the Porta Segreta by which people escaped during sieges and the craftspeople's shops. Mazzano Romano, halfway along the route, has its wash house and its way down to the river. Cook on a farm. The pasta workshop at Le Forre del Treja, in Civita Castellana, lasts three hours and ends with lunch and wine at the farm: €95 per person, by reservation. ## Where to eat? In Calcata. La Piazzetta cooks homemade pasta and its tringozzo, with outdoor tables; it closes Wednesday and Thursday and admits dogs. Book on Sundays. In the countryside, a few minutes by car, two farms serve meals at the weekend: the Le Forre del Treja restaurant, Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes, with its ancient-grain pasta and meat from the estate, and the Agriturismo I Tre Tigli, in Rignano Flaminio, with homemade pasta, tagliata and pinsa, and Tolfetano horses in the meadow. ## Where to sleep? In Calcata there's almost no accommodation, but around it there is. On an organic farm next to the valley, Le Forre del Treja has rooms in a farmhouse and studios with a pool, from €77 a night. To sleep in a village with life, the Residenza Palazzo Fortuna occupies a frescoed 16th-century palace in the centre of Civita Castellana. For several days with a kitchen, the Agriturismo La Ghiga, in the Nepi countryside, rents three cottages with a patio and a saltwater pool. ## When to go? In spring and autumn: the river runs full, the woods are green or golden and walking is pleasant. In summer the valley gives shade, but the waterfalls carry less water and on Sundays it fills up. After rain, the trail turns muddy: wear hiking footwear in any season. ## Dónde está - Cerca: Lake Bracciano (a 17.1 km), Caprarola and Bomarzo (a 25.8 km), Viterbo and Villa Lante (a 33.4 km), Rome (a 35.9 km) ## Qué hacer - **Calcata Vecchia, the village on the tuff rock** (1 h · All ages; stone streets, no cars): What it is Calcata occupies a tuff crag above the Treja valley, with walls the same colour as the rock: a brown island in the middle of the green forest. It appears in documents of the 8th century, passed through the hands of the Sinibaldi, the Anguillara and the Massimo, and under Fascism it was declared a village to be cleared, at risk of demolition. It was saved by those who came afterwards, artists and craftspeople from other parts of Italy and from abroad, and today a few dozen people live here. How to walk it You enter through a double gate of arches beneath the battlements of the baronial palace of the Anguillara and a covered passage leads to the square, with the palace and the parish church, now deconsecrated. The alleys are full of workshops and craft shops. Look for the Porta Segreta, an underground passage that served as an escape during sieges. The centre is closed to cars: park in the new village and walk down. - **Treja valley trail from Monte Gelato to Calcata** (3 h 30 · 7 km · Walkers and families with children over 8; difficulty E): The route The park's classic trail: 7 km, about three and a half hours and only 100 metres of ascent, difficulty E. It starts at Monte Gelato, in Mazzano Romano, just before the access barrier to the waterfalls, along the left bank of the Treja. It crosses fields, enters the forest beside the river, passes a wet area of springs and fords a stream. Halfway it climbs between stone terraces with the path cut into the tuff and, an hour and a half from the start, reaches Mazzano Romano. From there it goes down the Via del Lavatoio to the river, crosses a suspension bridge, passes a picnic area and the remains of the Faliscan temple of Monte Li Santi, and follows the Mola di Magliano ditch to a bridge and the climb to Calcata, beneath the rock and the village's ancient caves. What you need to know It is waymarked with the numbers 001, 002 and 014 and white and red flags, with a park hut at the start. Wear hiking footwear: there are narrow stretches high above the river. It is a linear route: leave a car at each end, or come back by the same way. The park's information sheet has the track in KML for your phone. - **The waterfalls of Monte Gelato** (1 h · Families): At Monte Gelato, in the municipality of Mazzano Romano, the Treja drops in a series of broad falls beside the ruins of a mill. It is the start of the route to Calcata and a Sunday spot for Romans, with meadows for picnics. The park has two short paths, 001 and 002, along the ditches of the Mola. The floating walkway that used to be at the waterfalls has been removed. - **Mazzano Romano and its washhouse** (45 min · All ages): Mazzano Romano is the park's second village, also on tuff, halfway along the route from Monte Gelato to Calcata. Go down the Via del Lavatoio, beside the old washhouse, to the river. The park also suggests a there-and-back route between Mazzano and Calcata, the heart of the valley, shorter than the full route. - **The Faliscan temple of Monte Li Santi and the suspension bridge** (1 h 30 · Families with children who can walk): If you do not want to do the whole trail, go down from Calcata to the river by the Mola di Magliano ditch and climb up to the suspension bridge, the picnic area and the remains of the temple of the Faliscans, the people who lived in this valley before Rome, at Monte Li Santi. The park waymarks its path 011 here. There and back, a good hour and a half. - **Pasta workshop at the Le Forre del Treja farm** (3 h · Couples, families with older children and anyone who wants to take a recipe home from Italy · €95 per person · €170 per couple): The Treja valley is wheat country as well as woodland and ravines. On its northern edge, in Civita Castellana, the organic farm Le Forre del Treja grows ancient wheats, among them Senatore Cappelli, and makes its own pasta from them. Its pasta workshop is the fullest paid activity near Calcata: three hours with your hands in the dough and a farm lunch at the end. What the workshop is like It is run by the farm's cooks and pasta makers. You learn the whole process using traditional techniques and locally milled flour: mixing, kneading and shaping several types of pasta by hand. All materials and ingredients are included. At the end you eat what comes from the farm's own fields, with wine, and take home the pasta you have made. It costs €95 per person or €170 for a couple. You book through the activities page of the farm's website, by phone or on WhatsApp. The website does not publish fixed days: ask for a date when you book and check whether the workshop can be held on a Saturday or Sunday, when the restaurant is also open. The farm's pasta The pasta line is called Eredi Strampelli, after Nazareno Strampelli, the agronomist who developed wheat varieties in this part of Lazio in the early 20th century. The farm grows several of them, stone-grinds them and makes a bronze-drawn pasta, dried slowly, with only flour and water from the local springs. Other activities on the farm If you prefer something shorter, the guided tour of the farm lasts two hours and costs €45 per person: organic farming practices, the animals and a tasting of produce. For those who cook at home, the Italian cooking class prepares a full menu in three hours, for €125 per person. Getting there The farm is at Via Castel Sant'Elia, 5, in the countryside of Civita Castellana, about 15 km from Calcata and around an hour from Rome along the Flaminia. There is parking on the estate. Without a car it is not practical to get there. ## Dónde comer - **La Piazzetta** (Restaurant, Calcata, €€). Qué pedir: the tringozzo, the house's thick pasta, with whatever is in season - **Agriturismo I Tre Tigli** (Restaurant, Rignano Flaminio, €€). Qué pedir: a first course of the house pasta and a tagliata; in the evening, pinsa made with long-fermented dough - **Le Forre del Treja restaurant** (Restaurant, Civita Castellana, €€). Qué pedir: a plate of its Senatore Cappelli pasta and something from the farm's meat; arrive before 13:30 ## As a family: Waterfalls, a suspension bridge and a car-free village The Treja valley is a very easy country Sunday with children: waterfalls to wet your feet, a suspension bridge, ruins in the forest and a fairy-tale village on top of a rock, without cars. ### What works best The waterfalls of Monte Gelato, with meadows for picnics The suspension bridge and the temple of Monte Li Santi, an hour and a half there and back from Calcata Calcata Vecchia, with the Porta Segreta, the escape passage from the sieges The full trail, of 7 km, for children over 8 ### Where to eat La Piazzetta, in Calcata, with tables outside and dogs allowed ### Good to know No pushchairs on the paths: there are narrow stretches above the river The full trail is linear: arrange the return before setting out Calcata fills up on spring Sundays ### Qué hacer as a family - Calcata Vecchia, the village on the tuff rock - Treja valley trail from Monte Gelato to Calcata - The waterfalls of Monte Gelato - The Faliscan temple of Monte Li Santi and the suspension bridge - Pasta workshop at the Le Forre del Treja farm ## Consejos ### Trail in the morning, lunch in Calcata Start at Monte Gelato at 9:00 and you reach Calcata for lunch. ### Hiking footwear There are narrow stretches high above the river. ### Download the route The park publishes the route as a KML file for your phone. ## Preguntas frecuentes ### How long does it take from Rome to Calcata? About an hour by car. ### Can you go without a car? There's no train and buses are scarce: in practice, you need a car. ### Which trail should I do in the Treja valley? The Monte Gelato to Calcata one, 7 km and three and a half hours, or the short stretch from Calcata to the suspension bridge. ### Is Calcata free to visit? Yes, the village can be explored freely. ### Can dogs go? In the villages and on the trails, on a lead; La Piazzetta admits them. ### Where can I sleep near Calcata? On farms in the Civita Castellana and Nepi countryside, or in the centre of Civita Castellana, about 15 km away.