Ferentillo: The Mummies in the Crypt and the Lombard Abbey in the Gorge

The Valnerina is a vertical gorge carved by the Nera river over the centuries between limestone walls as high as three hundred metres. You drive through it slowly, hugging the green water, and at a certain point Ferentillo appears: two hamlets separated by the river, Precetto and Matterella, each watched over by a medieval fortress perched above like a stone guardian.

The mummies of Santo Stefano

What makes Ferentillo famous among those who know it is preserved in the crypt of the church of Santo Stefano: twenty-four bodies naturally mummified between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. No Egyptian embalming, no baroque art of the afterlife — just the microclimate and the hygroscopic properties of the soil did their work, preserving skin, hair, and expressions. There are men, women, a child, a bride in her wedding dress. The effect is unsettling, almost hypnotic. Admission to the small museum costs just a few euros.

The Abbey of San Pietro in Valle

Three kilometres from Ferentillo, heading up the gorge, the Abbey of San Pietro in Valle emerges from the forest like a medieval mirage. It was founded in the eighth century by the Lombard duke Faroaldo II, who withdrew here to monastic life after ceding power to his son. Inside are a cycle of twelfth-century Romanesque frescoes among the most complete in central Italy and a Lombard altar signed by Ursus Magester, unique in its kind. The Goths, the Lombards, the Benedictines: three successive civilisations legible in the same stones.

Climbing and nature

Ferentillo is also one of the most renowned sport climbing sites in central Italy: the gorge walls host over three hundred routes, from easy to very difficult, and every weekend climbers arrive from Rome and Florence. The trail that follows the Nera upstream through the gorge is accessible to everyone and free of charge.

How to get there

Ferentillo is about 20 kilometres from Terni along the SS209 Valnerina road. It has no railway station. The road through the gorge is narrow: in summer it is best to arrive early in the morning to find parking.