Heading out from Florence, we drove up into the mountains again to a little medieval-town-turned-geological-observatory near the town of Apiro. It is here at Coldigioco Geological Observatory where we will spend the next few days, taking day trips out into the countryside. The view is, well, pretty amazing. What others would say is a beautiful mountainous countryside, we geologists see as the leeward of a series of thrust belts that create the Apennines. Both are legitimate descriptions of the area.
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| The Umbria-Marche countryside from the Observatory. |
Coldigioco is an independent center for research and education in geology and is run by Sandro Montanari and his wife, Paula. The small village, once home to as many as 50 people, still retains bits of structures built 300-400 years ago. Today, Coldigioco is used by various groups of students and researchers to study Italy's geology. Curious? Read more about the Observatory.
Sandro Montanari, the Director of OGC, grew up in Ancona, Italy, obtained his
M.S. in geology from the University of Urbino, and Ph.D. at the
UC - Berkeley. His work was influential to our understanding of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) mass extinction (think giant meteor, end of the dinosaurs, etc). He also researches caves and what they can tell us about the ongoing tectonic uplift in the area. To put it short, he's got a lot of information about the area and is very excited to share it with us. We are fortunate to have him as our guide for all the trips in the area.
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| Village architecture nestled between olive trees. |
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| Old wagon-turned garden along the main road. |
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| A quaint chapel still holds memory of use. |
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