What to do · Calcata and the Treja Valley
Calcata Vecchia, the village on the tuff rock
Information
- Duration
- 1 h
- Season
- All year
- Who it's for
- All ages; stone streets, no cars
- With a dog
- Leashed
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.
As a familyWith a dog
