At the western end of the Rieti Valley, 10,5 miles from Rieti, is the
Sanctuary of Greccio, known to the world as the Franciscan Bethlem, a large
and overpowering architecture: the buildings seem to grow out the rock
reinforced by heavy pylons.
It was here, in the winter of 1223, that St.
Francis thought of commemorating the Birth of the Infant Christ at the
approach of the Feast of the Nativity, and on Christmas Eve night, the world
saw its first Crib with an ox and an ass standing round a manger on which the
priest celebrated the Mass.
The story is also depicted in the valuable 14th century fresco in the Chapel
built right after the Saint's death in the same grotto where the Saint
assembled the Crib. Since 1972, during the Christmas season, a series of
live open-air scenes are organized so that the experience of the firs Crib
can be renewed.
The Temple of Saint Francis
In 1939 Pope Pius XII declared Saint Francis the Patron Saint of Italy. In
order to celebrate the event, the Franciscan friars decided to build a
monument on Terminillo at 1623 m. above sea level. They erected the national
Votive Temple. Work began in 1949 and 25,000 cubic meters of rock was carved
out in order to house the church which was consecrated in 1964.
The building is a harmonious fusion of architecture, mosaic, sculpture and
church ornaments of high artistic quality. A casket in the Saint Francis
chapel holds the most precious relic: an urn containing remains of the Saint
in front of which a votive lamp burns eternally.
Saint Francis' beech tree
St. Francis withdrew often in the Holy Valley in order to find the solitude
offered by the extraordinary natural elements of the places. One of the
most fascinating is the St. Francis' beech tree, a monumental tree with its
foliage that extends to 22 meters in diameter. The tree is famous for its
extraordinary form, with branches that entwine, creating curves and knots
with unusual beauty.
It is fruit of a spontaneous mutation undergone in only rare examples
throughout the world. According to tradition, during a storm, the tree took
on this form in order to protect St. Francis who had been praying there. One
can get there by following a secondary road from Rivodutri that goes to
Cepparo; one continues, submerged in nature, up to the foot of Mount Fausola
(1100 meters) where a sign indicates a small path which leads to this
extraordinary beech tree.
The Village of Posta
Some Franciscan historians and a local ancient tradition believe that
Francis came to the village of Posta which was called Malchilone during the
Saint lifetime.
In the village, which borders the Kingdom of Naples, St. Francis founded the
first order of the Friars Minor in the Church of St. Mathew known today as
the Church of Saint Francis.
The presence of St. Francis in Posta begins between 1222 and 1225.
On the site where St Francis lived, a convent soon arose and the ancient
church of St. Mathew was renovated to become larger and more solemn.
Sources say that as a token to the love and affection he held for the poor
and the sick, St. Francis donated, his cloak and twelve loaves to a poor
woman from Machilone with sick eyes who did not have the money for a cure.
Natural Elements
The vista is open spacious, marked by rows
of poplars that break up the planted fields.
The surrounding hills lead the eye skyward, towards the peaks, of the
Terminillo in the background.
This is how the Rieti valley appears today, where centuries ago St. Francis
first set out the Walk.
When St. Francis explored this valley, he discovered an extraordinarily
varied nature, alive with multi-hued colors, varying from the valley to the
hill.
Enormous oaks define the landscape bordering the lake regions, and the areas
where the Saint one walked must have been cloaked in forests and brush that
are still present in large part today.
Despite repeated attempts to reclaim the area during Roman times, by mining
the travertine bank of the Marmore Falls from the ancient Iacus Velinus,
which dates to the Quaternary period, extended across the Rieti plain.
Ancient sources claim that the Saint was forced to use a boat to cross the
basin to get from one side to the other.
At the time, large mammals populated the area, including deer that
subsequently found refuge in the hills before indiscriminate hunting wiped
them out altogether.
St. Francis used to converse with the elements of nature that surrounded him
on a daily basis.
But what does the area, that prompted the Saint's mystic fervor, look like
today? It's certain that St. Francis knew the towns of Poggio Bustone,
Greccio, Fonte Colombo, La Foresta, the best known Franciscan localities of
the Rieti area.
But there are others worth noting, either because they are the site of
miraculous events - like St. Elia - or because they are linked to legends
passed down through the ages, like the legend of the beech three on the
mountain above Cepparo di Rivodutri.
The Walk of Francis includes Pian de' Valli on Mount Terminillo and the
village of Posta in the high valley of the Velino.
The vegetations one encounters on the various itineraries is extremely rich
and mutable according to the season.
Species variety is so abundant that it's rare to encounter it elsewhere.
The lakes of the plan (at 370 meters above the sea) are in good state of
preservation, lush with the vegetation, typical of areas that are both
perennially submerged and dry in others parts.
Surrounding the lakes of Ventina, Ripa Sottile, Lungo or Cantalice, Fogliano
to name the most important, are forests mostly populated by willow trees,
white poplars, black elders along with travelers-joy, bramble bushes and
hop, which ensure a large degree of diversity.
In certain periods of the year, these are inhabited by cormorants, egrets,
grey herons, marsh harriers, buzzards and the like.
The riverbeds are framed by vegetation typical of marshy areas.
The water irises are especially beautiful during the spring bloom.
The marshy areas provide home to many birds that find their ideal habitat
here and come to nest.
Thus little grebes, whistle ducks, mallards, teals, pilchards, spoon-billed
ducks, bulls of the bog, little egrets, moorhens and other birds live in
these areas where land, water and plants seem to merge into one
extraordinary ecosystem.
But similar woods are present along the rivers Velino, Salto, St. Susanna.
This is the ideal environment for porcupines, foxes and other wild game.
Beyond the fields, the geometry of bushes and the unique, woods defined by
olive groves, the mixed broad-leaved forest becomes the protagonist.
Normally these are deciduous species that lose their leaves after autumn's
bright palette of colors dulling the landscape into depressing tones.
Oak trees, the friendly giants of the forest, spring up here and there.
Up higher, chestnuts form, woods, that have always been planted and cared
for by man.
Known as the tree of bread and good wood, the broad trunk chestnut brings us
into an enchanted fairytale world, that's not just, in our imagination.
Surrounding the Sanctuaries, at times forming a crown around the walls, are
Holm-oak woods.
They have been there from time immemorial and with their dark green foliage
they confer an air of solemnity to the environment.
Higher still a beech forest, dominates the landscape, the tall column like
trunks decorated by multicolored lichens, which stand silhouetted against a
winter's sky or against the warm green of the hot season or against
brilliant autumn colors.
The territory belongs to animals that take shelter from man, but make their
presence known especially once the sun goes down.
It's the land of the fox and the badger, squirrel and dormouse, woodpeckers
and jay, wise old owl, and the hoot owl with its sad song along with
hundreds of other song birds.
To sum up, along the paths trodden by St. Francis one finds the simplest -
hence the most sublime-spirituality.
One climbs with the trees, following the changing landscape.
Below the fields speak of ancient history, of a farming community that for
centuries lived off the resources of the land, at times generous mother, at
times hostile antagonist.
A history written by pollard willow trees, elms used to steer vines, oaks
the provided, shade to herds, poplars that towered along the ditches.
Up higher, the path becomes a forest that varies and changes in form, and
color; the maple, ash, sorbs, oak, laburnum, and splashes of juniper and
broom that alternate with the high pastures beech groves and of spires of
St. Francis' rocky cathedrals.
Following the Walk, panoramas, open up unexpectedly: high plateaus and deep
valleys, thick forest and immense isolated trees.
The rough and gnarly trunks seem to announce that for centuries these natural
fortresses were the custodians of the Franciscan Rule.
So the centuries old Beech of St. Francis, with its imposing and twisted
trunk so different from others of the species, appears to be the entrance
way to God's temple on earth.
The Temple of Saint Francis 
Some Franciscan historians and a local ancient tradition believe that
Francis came to the village of Posta which was called Malchilone during the
Saint lifetime.
Natural Elements