Monte Cairo is a mountain located in Lazio (in the province of Frosinone

Frosinone

Frosinone is a town and comune in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the Province of Frosinone. It is located about 75 km south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples Autostrada A1...

), overshadowing both the Abbey and the town of Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...

, 5 kilometres to the south.

Features

The ancient 'Mons Clarius' was so called because originally a temple dedicated to Apollo (Clarius)

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

 stood where the 'Abbey of Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...

 now stands. The Monte Cairo is the main peak of an isolated mountain range that extends eastwards for about 16-18 km from the 'Alta Valle del Melfa' the road from Rome to Naples.

The geological structure is of limestone dating from the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 period and the formation often experiences violent earthquakes and subsidence. The tops of the mountains are barren, in contrast to the partially wooded sides. At an altitude of 1300 m and west of Monte Cairo lies the Monte Pozzacone Refuge, a property owned by the town of Colle San Magno

Colle San Magno

Colle San Magno is a comune in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about 110 km southeast of Rome and about 30 km southeast of Frosinone....

 and a suitable base for climbing to the top of Monte Cairo. Other peaks of the group include the Monte Obachelle (1476 metres) where there is a significant Karstic

KARST

Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

 sinkhole, the Pizzo di Prato Caselle (1372 metres), and the Cimmaron Villaneto (1315 m).

Ascent of Monte Cairo

The top of the mountain is a 4 hour hike along a path through beech groves and across a plateau of snow.
The vista from the top includes 'Appennino Marsicano' (Monti Marsicani}, the 'Mainarde', the 'Monti della Meta

Monti della Meta

The Monti della Meta are a massif of central Italy located around the junction point of the boundaries between the regions of Lazio, Abruzzo and Molise. The major of three massifs of the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise, they take their name from one of the peaks, Monte Meta...

', the 'Matese

Matese

The Matese is a chain of mountains in central Italy, central-southern Apennines.-Geography:...

', the sea up to Gaeta

Gaeta

Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....

, the Pontine Islands

Pontine Islands

The Pontine Islands are an archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy. The islands were collectively named after the largest island in the group, Ponza. The other islands in the archipelago are Palmarola, Zannone,...

, Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting...

 and the 'Abbey of Montecassino'.