Vallinfante

Its name is believed to have been originally “Valle delle fate”, which means Valley of the Fairies, due to the legend that this areas was inhabited by the mythological sybils, who were said to dwell in the wildest and most inaccessible parts of its valleys and mountains, where their singing bewitched pilgrims, shepherds and horsemen.

This locality is situated in a natural amphitheatre in the heart of the Sibilline Mountains National Park, at the foot of Mount Prata, Mount Porche and the so-called Passo Cattivo (Bad Pass), which slopes gently down towards the valley. On Vallinfante’s valley floor collects the cool, crystal-clear spring-waters of the Nera river, but according to a local legend the waters of this river once flowed from two caverns that looked like the “nostrils” of an ox.

In its initial stretch the Nera is just a stream, but it is nonetheless the main affluent of the Tiber; and then there are the spring-waters the locals call "Acqua de li cillitti": the little birds’ water. Near these springs are a deer park known as the “Centro faunistico del cervo” and the  Ecomuseum. In this locality only religious art is present: there are three churches, dedicated to St. Peter, St. Mary and the “Madonna delle Gee” (also known as the Madonna della Maina).

The church of St. Peter dates back to the XIIIth centure: it has a single nave and contains some small frescoes, several carved wooden altars with twisted columns and some fine paintings. The church of St. Mary is located above the village, and likewise dates back to the XIIIth century. Inside it are some very fine frescoes attributed to the school of Paolo da Visso , a 15th century baroque wooden altar and a tapestry glorifying St. Rocco, the locality’s patron saint.

On the 15th of August each year, in a picturesque night-time procession, the tapestry is paraded together with a wooden statue of the saint that is kept in the same church. Then on the 16th of August,  the village holds an annual festival in honour of St.Rocco called the “Sagra dei fagioli con le cotiche”: a feast-day dedicated to the local peasant speciality of beans with bacon-rinds.

The little church of the Madonna delle Gee stands at the start of an unspoilt valley that is now the territory of one of the most charming native animals of our Appennine mountains: the deer.