The Park

The Roccamonfina and Garigliano Mouth Regional Park extends over approximately 11,000 hectares, reaching the border with southern Lazio. It includes the municipalities of Sessa Aurunca, Teano, and five centers of the “Monte Santa Croce” Mountain Community: Roccamonfina, Galluccio, Conca della Campania, Marzano Appio, and Tora e Piccilli.

The Park is overseen, as if protected, by the volcanic apparatus of Roccamonfina, active between 630,000 and 50,000 years ago. Older than Vesuvius, it resembles Vesuvius in form and majesty, consisting of an outer crater ring averaging 6 km in width, defined at its highest points by Monte S. Croce (1005 m) and Monte Làttani (810 m), along with several volcanic cones with a semi-spherical dome profile, such as Monte Atano (Casi-Teano), Colle Friello (Conca della Campania), and Monte Ofelio (Sessa Aurunca).

Covered with chestnut groves, olive groves, and vineyards, the lush growth of the chestnut tree has been favored over time by the mineral composition of Roccamonfina’s lava soils, which is optimal for the nutritional needs of this species. In the chestnut groves, one can admire the splendid spring blooms of crocuses, buttercups, primroses, orchids, anemones, and violets. The many varieties of orchids are particularly fascinating, attracting numerous scholars and enthusiasts every year. Nature comes to life where fire once dominated. It is amazing how rich and dense the underbrush is, even in the autumn when it is populated by numerous species of mushrooms, including the highly prized and commercially valuable Caesar’s mushroom and porcini. The forests of the Roccamonfina volcano are an ideal refuge for animals: here, foxes, wild boars, badgers, martens, hares, black squirrels, and many other species of small mammals live in the tranquility of nature.