Arrone: a mix of art, culture and adventure sports
Arrone, a village immersed in the pristine natural surroundings of the Valnerina valley and the Nera River Park
Arrone, set on the left bank of the Nera river, strategically situated along ancient paths between the Valnerina valley and Rieti, is a municipality consisting of two residential centres. The older, called Terra, corresponds to the feudal castle of Arroni, which between the eleventh and twelfth centuries extended its control over a wide area of the lower Valnerina valley, until the thirteenth century, when it was finally put under control of the city of Spoleto.
Built on top of the hill, the castle is surrounded by a mighty city wall, articulated by circular bastions and crossed by a main road leading to the square where the church of San Giovanni Battista stands. The church has Gothic features and is decorated inside with a series of fifth-century frescoes. Through the San Giovanni gate you enter a neighbourhood with more recent origins, called Santa Maria because it was built around the sixteenth-century Collegiate of Santa Maria Assunta. This second urban centre is characterized by the presence of noble renaissance buildings of some architectural significance. The pristine natural surroundings of the Nera River Park offers visitors a permanent educational workshop thanks to the many guided activities on offer, with hiking trails of different levels of difficulty. Arrone boasts highly developed sports tourism, thanks to the water sports ( canoeing, rafting, and canyoning) and free-climbing on natural rock walls.