- Interests: landscape, nature and culture.
- Route time: 5 and a half hours without stops
- Difficulty level: A hiking path of medium difficulty, requires some training for the length and elevations.
- Elevations: 410 meter up and 390 meters down
- Characteristics: on dirt roads and paths, and scenic stretches in the woods
A challenging 5/6 hour hike in the heart of the Selva di Meana Park, one of the naturalist jewels Orvieto. It starts from the small village of Allerona (472 mt above sea level) and continue for a while on the road Provinciale n.50 Osteriaccia, near the cemetery turn left to take a dirt road.
Initially the road runs between cultivated land and forest, then passes the Ripuglie streem and enters the woods of the Selva di Meana until reaching Casanova Villa Cahen (mt. 565 asl). The woods is called the Fattoria della Selva and at one time represented the agricultural heart of the estate of Selva di Meana. Continue on the same road, after 1.5 km, you will reach Villa Cahen (mt. 630 asl).
This nineteenth-century art nouveau style villa was built in 1880 by a wealthy financier Edouard Cahen of Antwerp, who was in love with Italy and its landscapes. Later it was bought by the noble family Bourbon del Monte the estate that stretched for about thirty kilometers in circumference between a ridge and the Paglia river valley, in the area now known as the Selva di Meana. Cahen was already allocated in the vicinity of this estate in Torre Alfina, where he had settled with the title of Marquis obtained by King Vittorio Emanuele II for war merits obtained at the time of the unification of Italy, and where he had rebuilt a decayed castle to use it as his home.
Villa Cahen was built above the Paglia river opposite Torre Alfina. The villa has a large garden and terrace from which you can enjoy a wonderful panorama that opens over the entire upper valley of the Paglia river, woods of Selva, and Monte Rufeno.
Specific features of the Villa are the Italian gardens and the presence of rare plant species for the area (ancient cedars, yews, black pines etc…), in addition to Japanese gardens though no longer in operation.
After the villa visit there is a path in the woods, a little under the line of the Paglia ridge, between 650 and 550 meters above sea level touches Poggio La Cupa, Poggio delle Reti and to the right Poggio Ceccarello.
Inside the forest are the ruins of the ancient aqueduct that carried water from Molino del Paglia up to the villa, and some stone bridges.
Finally you reach the villages of Meana and Meana Vecchia (442m), situated in a panoramic position, where the fabric of the ancient settlement bought by the Bishop of Orvieto in 1275 (remains of the fortress and the Church of St. Nicholas). The return route goes downhill Podere Fontana (380m), up to a junction with a dirt road which branches off to the left and to the forest brings you to Podere Casaccia (458m).
Passing the Podere Aiarella (475 m), continue uphill to the junction (491 m) with the road of going and going is back to Allerona.
