Last updated Entrance of the Roman tunnel.The gorge
The Furlo Pass (Italian: Gola del Furlo or Passo del Furlo) is a gorge on the ancient Roman road Via Flaminia in the Marche region of central Italy, where it passes near the Candigliano river, a tributary of the Metauro.
The gorge was formed between the Pietralata (889m) and Paganuccio (976m) mountains by the river Candigliano, which whooshed in full spate through the district until it was dammed in 1922. Since 2001 it has been included in a State Natural Reserve of the same name. It is often marketed to tourists in the region as the "Grand Canyon of Italy."
The Roman emperor Vespasian had a tunnel built here to facilitate passage on the Via Flaminia at the narrowest point of the gorge (hence the name, from the Latina forulum, meaning "small hole"). Next to it is a similar but smaller tunnel dating from Etruscan times. The tunnel has a length of 38.30 meters and a height of 5.95 meters. During the Gothic Wars (6th century), the Ostrogoth King Totila had the pass fortified, but his troops were ousted by the Roman general Belisarius. The Lombards conquered the pass between 570 and 578, and destroyed the fortifications.
In the following centuries Via Flaminia was nearly abandoned. In 1502 Lucrezia Borgia used it on a journey to Ferrara and in 1506 Julius II took the road on his way to Bologna. In the beginning of the 18th century the transit remained difficult and dangerous, and only in 1776 was the tunnel and the road re-opened. Between May 23 and June 12, 1849, soldiers of the Roman Republic, commanded by Colonel L. Pianciani, fought a skirmish in the pass with the Austrian army.
During the Second World War, the Gorge experienced moments of tension, but it was not the scene of fierce clashes. The seventies saw increasing destruction of the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape, as well as the deterioration of the road, due to the intense activity in quarries located within the Gorge.
The gorge.
In the 1930s, a profile of Benito Mussolini was sculpted on the slopes of Mount Pietralata by a local branch of the Guardia Forestale (State Forestry Corps), which was destroyed by partisans during World War II. In the 1980s, traffic in the Furlo tunnel was bypassed by the construction of two highway tunnels.
The Brenner Pass is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowest altitude among Alpine passes of the area.
Umbria is a region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the River Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Apennine Peninsula. The regional capital is Perugia.
Rimini is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa. It is one of the most notable seaside resorts in Europe with revenue from both internal and international tourism forming a significant portion of the city's economy. It is also near San Marino, a small nation within Italy. The first bathing establishment opened in 1843. Rimini is an art city with ancient Roman and Renaissance monuments, and is also the birthplace of the film director Federico Fellini.
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains are a mountain range consisting of parallel smaller chains extending c. 1,200 km (750 mi) along the length of peninsular Italy. In the northwest they join with the Ligurian Alps at Altare. In the southwest they end at Reggio di Calabria, the coastal city at the tip of the peninsula. Since 2000 the Environment Ministry of Italy, following the recommendations of the Apennines Park of Europe Project, has been defining the Apennines System to include the mountains of north Sicily, for a total distance of 1,500 kilometres (930 mi). The system forms an arc enclosing the east side of the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Seas.
The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium, Campania, and the Po Valley. The section running through northern Rome is where Constantine the Great had his famous vision of the Chi Rho, leading to his conversion to Christianity and the Christianization of the Roman Empire.
Marche, in English sometimes referred to as the Marches, is one of the twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the central area of the country, and has a population of about 1.5 million people, being the thirteenth largest region in the country by number of inhabitants. The region's capital and largest city is Ancona.
Narni is an ancient hilltown and comune of Umbria, in central Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of 240 m (787 ft), it overhangs a narrow gorge of the Nera River in the province of Terni. It is very close to the geographic center of Italy. There is a stone on the exact spot with a sign in multiple languages.
The Via Aemilia was a trunk Roman road in the north Italian plain, running from Ariminum (Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, to Placentia (Piacenza) on the river Padus (Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The Via Aemilia connected at Rimini with the Via Flaminia, which had been completed 33 years earlier, to Rome.
Fano[ˈfaːno] is a town and comune of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort 12 kilometres southeast of Pesaro, located where the Via Flaminia reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by population after Ancona and Pesaro.
Lake Trasimeno, also referred to as Trasimene or Thrasimene in English, is a lake in the province of Perugia, in the Umbria region of Italy on the border with Tuscany. The lake is south of the river Po and north of the nearby river Tiber and has a surface area of 128 km2 (49.4 sq mi), making it the fourth largest in Italy, slightly smaller than Lake Como. Only two minor streams flow directly into the Lake and none flows out. The water level of the lake fluctuates significantly according to rainfall levels and the seasonal demands from the towns, villages and farms near the shore.
Carsulae is an archaeological site in the region of Umbria in central Italy. It is located approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of San Gemini, a small comune in the province of Terni.
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti is a region (Mkhare) in northwestern Georgia with a population of 28,500 (2021), making it the most sparsely populated region in the country. It has a nominal area of 4,954 km2 (1,913 sq mi), of which 4,600 km2 (1,800 sq mi) is de facto controlled by Georgia. The remainder is effectively under South Ossetian control. The region has Ambrolauri as its administrative center and Parmen Margvelidze is governor of the region since June 2021. Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti includes the historical provinces of Racha, Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti.
Prima Porta is the 58th zona of Rome, identified by the initials Z. LVIII. The name Prima Porta came from an arch of the aqueduct that brought water to the Villa of Livia, which formed over Via Flaminia a sort of gateway which travellers saw as the first indication of having reached Rome (Piperno).
The GRA or Grande Raccordo Anulare is a toll-free, ring-shaped 68.2 kilometres (42.4 mi) long orbital motorway that encircles Rome. GRA is one of the most important roads in Rome, and traffic reaches 160,000 vehicles per day as of 2011.
Acqualagna is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian region Marche, located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Ancona and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Pesaro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 4,304 and an area of 50.8 square kilometres (19.6 sq mi). It is one of the main centers in Italy for truffle. The Candigliano is joined by the Burano in the vicinity of the town.
Firenzuola is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Florence.
Zemen is a town in Pernik Province, western Bulgaria. Located near the Pchelina Reservoir on the banks of the Struma River, it is the administrative centre of Zemen Municipality.
Valmontone is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Lazio, located about 45 kilometres southeast of Rome.
The Temple of Jupiter Apenninus or Temple of Jupiter Poeninus was an Umbrian-Roman temple that lay at the foot of Monte Catria, near the modern village of Scheggia, between today's Umbria and Marche regions, in Italy. The temple stood near the ancient Via Flaminia, 200 km from Rome, where the road crossed the Apennines. The structure, once one of the most important Umbrian shrines, has now completely disappeared.
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