Valentano can boast of the prestigious proximity to the famous volcanic lake of Bolsena, but this village in its territory is lucky enough to host another important reservoir: the Mezzano lake. Smaller and less famous, Mezzano shares its volcanic nature with its illustrious relative, moreover this basin has been an important aggregation center in the history of this municipality. From the clear waters of the Mezzano some ancient villages dating back to the Bronze Age emerged, jealously preserved in this place for almost four millennia.These famous discoveries, now preserved in the Museum of Prehistory of Tuscia, occurred in 1973 and include among the finds: ancient swords, wooden artifacts, axes, fibulae, pins, bronze and ceramic tools. Lake Mezzano is a place with a mysterious charm that hides behind an uncontaminated nature that frames its shores. Particularly suggestive is the wood located on the west side, which takes the name of Monte Rosso, in which the tall trees with oak and oak trees hide the remains of an ancient structure that is once thought to have been the Castle of Mezzano.An extremely beautiful and intriguing ruin especially for its Lombard origins, which is supposed to have been destroyed during the 1300s. A place where legend and popular tradition has it that the famous Pia de ‘Tolomei, the Sienese noblewoman remembered, also by Dante Alighieri, in the fifth canto of the Purgatory of his Divine Comedy was imprisoned and then killed.
Not far from Lake Mezzano, moreover, there is an incredible monument of nature: an immense downy oak, over three hundred years old, classified as one of the oldest plants in Lazio, which rises on the edge of a steep ditch, which has been declared from the WWF a real “natural monument”.