The Monte Catillo nature reserve is a protected area in the municipality of Tivoli, established in 1997 and covering more than thirteen hundred hectares. The highest peak is Monte Catillo, on which stands a cross.
What to see
It is an ecotone, where two different ecosystems overlap, and for this reason it has a great variety of plants: grasslands, scrub and woods of very varied composition. Characteristic is the cork oak wood, with very sparse undergrowth, together with rare specimens of Quercus crenata. Of great botanical interest is the presence of Balkan and eastern species such as storax, the Judas tree, Christ's thorn and oriental hornbeam. In the inner areas and on the cooler, damper north-facing slopes, Turkey oak woods dominate instead, with some centuries-old trees and an undergrowth of oriental hornbeam, hawthorn, manna ash, cornelian cherry and field maple; chestnut and aspen are found more rarely.
Despite the nearby towns, the reserve is home to many wild species typical of the Apennines. Among the mammals, wild boar, fox, hare, badger, porcupine and edible dormouse are easy to see. Among the birds are daytime raptors such as kestrel and buzzard, night raptors such as tawny owl, little owl and scops owl, as well as blackcap, great tit, blue tit, blackbird, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker and wryneck.
Visiting
The reserve lies in the territory of Tivoli and is one of the protected areas of Lazio. Trails, access points and any visiting rules should be checked with the managing body, which has a page on the Lazio parks portal.
Our editors' tip
Beneath Monte Catillo runs the Traforo Gregoriano, the channel that the architect Clemente Folchi built at the wish of Pope Gregory XVI after the flood of 1826 to divert the Aniene, creating the waterfalls of the Villa Gregoriana at the foot of the town.
