| The territory
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 Winter landscape From
“Montasola and its territory” Placed
on the top of one of the ramifications of the Sabina mountains and
having, to the west, the compact and massive structure of Monte Tancia,
Montasola overlooks (604 m asl) the narrow Aia Stream valley, which
widens towards south until it reaches the Tiber valley. The Town
territory, which extends from the Aia Stream to Monte Porco, occupies a
surface of 12,64 km2. The
main lines of communication run along the borders of the area that
englobe the Commune of Montasola. The Municipal Administration has been
working hard, during the last years, to improve the road conditions. Via
Fontevecchia, for instance, which easily connects Montasola with Rieti,
passing through Madonna di Cottanello, has recently been asphalted. Montasola
is a typical mountain-top town, totally pedestrian and with narrow
cobbled streets, many of which are flight of stairs and vaulted. The
compact plan of the houses shows remarkable rests of ancient walls and
defensive towers, today partly reconstructed, and reveals the medieval
origin of the town. A
part of Montasola and Forcella, the territory is mostly inhabited by
wide-spread settlements. In the Aia Stream area there are primarily
isolated houses, with storerooms and stables at the ground floor,
external staircases and the dwellings at the first floor level. In
the western section, where the small landed property with an average
size of 4,5 hectares predominates, there is a wonderful landscape of
fields, changing and discontinuous. These fields are fenced with
ever-green hedges and, more rarely, with dry-stone walls. Some are
cultivated with cereals, others are pasture land and olive groves; and,
among these, rows and rows of grapevines. Most of the inhabitants have
their own kitchen garden with vegetables and fruit trees, such as apple
trees, fig trees and almond trees, produced only for family consumption.
In between the fields there are winding paths, sometimes slightly sunken
and often practicable only by means of animals. On the eastern side of
Montasola, instead, there is a coppice and the big municipal and
religious properties. The periodic cutting of trees and the
cattle-breeding are the only form of exploitation of the land. The
cultivated area occupies therefore only a little more than a quarter of
the whole territory of Montasola.
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