The territory of Monteleone di Spoleto
1000 metres of beauty
Monteleone di Spoleto is situated in the Alta Valle del Corno, in a naturalistic area, rich of natural beauty and important flora and fauna species. These aspects are the setting for one of the most picturesque corners of Umbria, rich in history and traditions, thanks to the presence of man since the time of the Italic peoples.
The territory of Monteleone di Spoleto is mostly mountainous and is characterized by two landscape units: the first consists of the presence of the dorsal reliefs Mount Coscerno – Mount Aspra in the west and Mount Cornuvolo in the east. The second consists of sub flat units where rivers flow, including the Corno River. The limestone reliefs have rather large tops and steepy slopes. The highest peak, located southwest of Monteleone, is Mount Aspra 1654 meters above sea level. Corno River has a length of 56 Km and is a left tributary of Nera River. The substrate on which it slides is characterized by the prevalence of calcareous soils of high permeability and only on small extensions (less than 15% of the total) there are slightly permeable soils.
The history of these mountains began about 200 million years ago, in the Jurassic Period: it is highly important the fact that the territory of Monteleone di Spoleto is characterized by limestone rocks of Stratigraphic Sequence of Umbria and Marche which derives from marine environment and sometimes is rich in fossils (such as ammonites, gastropods, bivalves, crinoids, foraminifera, etc.) ranging from the Lower Jurassic (about 200 million years ago) until the Paleogene (10 million years ago). The fossils allow us to reconstruct the type of paleo environment in which they were formed. As a result of this, we know that about 200 million years ago in this area there was a paleo environment similar to that of Bahamas islands, with coral islands, shallow and warm sea. Subsequently the seabed became deeper, though rather irregular with ups and downs, which were soon smoothed out by the limestone sediments that were deposited on the seabed.