Antica Monterano, Lazio, Italy

The reflection of the Monastery church of San Bonaventura in the octagonal fountain at Monterano (once Manturianum, which originated in the bronze age and was enlarged by the Etruscans) is an image of this ghost town not far from Manziana in Lazio. Once the seat of Bishops, and later a palace of the Orsini family, ornamented by lions by Bernini, the town was sacked by the French at the end of the 18th century and then finished off by malaria. In recent times it has been used as a film set, notably Il Marchese del Grillo with Alberto Sordi in 1981, and Ladyhawke with Michelle Pfeiffer in 1985, which was when I first visited, picking my way through plastic flowers and discarded hay bales. Now, preserved in the Riserva naturale regionale Monterano, it is one of many treasures hidden in the hills north of Rome.