Rocca di Papa

The Route Without Gravity ?

Rocca di Papa is a small site on Lake Albano in Lazio, 25 kilometers from Rome. Its name derives from Pope Eugenio II. Here the question arises as to whether the laws of nature are valid everywhere and at all times. Are there places in the world where they do not apply? Where does water go up the mountains and where gravity itself seems to be abolished?

A bus slides up the mountain

In 1992, one of the first witnesses to testify to these strange events is a German priest: "Suddenly, the bus from Naples to Florence stops at this point of Via del Laghi, where it is said that the water flows up the mountain. The driver stops the bus at the foot of the hill and engages the neutral position. First slowly, then faster and faster, the bus picks up speed and goes up the slope spontaneously. "A policeman and an engineer were on the bus and confirm the inconceivable. No special effects were possible. Are there places on Earth where gravity is abolished or where pebbles not only fall down, but also upwards? Where on one side of the mountain water flows upwards? Places that challenge all our certainties? Including that which falls down to the ground and does not rise to the sky. Certainly, to say that the exception confirms the rule allows to keep its traditional benchmarks in terms of measurement accuracy and scientific verifications.

Water goes up the mountain

Galileo (1564-1642), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Isaac Newton (1642-1727) identified and posited as postulate the law of gravity, which is one of the most reliable, because without it, our world would break up into its many components. Gravity is the most constant of all fundamental forces and is neither influenced nor canceled by other forces. At the same time, it is the most mysterious of the forces of nature, because although we experience it every day, there is still no theory to integrate it into the mathematical equilibrium of all other natural forces. What would happen if this law was abolished? If water came up the mountains? The force that holds the cohesion of the whole would then also be abolished? The foundations of the Universe would tremble.

A simple optical illusion

Arriving at Rocca di Papa, we see a long stretch of straight road. It begins to descend, reaches its lowest point and then go up hill. It is here that is located the mysterious segment of road, where cars go up the slope and where water flows upward.

Johannes Fiebag, graduate geologist, was asked about this phenomenon and explained: "When the spirit level indicates that we are on a hill rather than a slope, it may be an optical illusion. Or we are confronted with an unexplained gravitational phenomenon, which can naturally distort the bubble level. It is simply difficult to decide on the moment, we are facing an enigma.

Author Eckard Etzold explains the phenomenon as follows: the gravitational anomaly is related to a psychological and not physical origin. People see water flowing up, because that's what they believe in. This optical illusion would be generated by data inherent to the landscape. On the other hand, he admits that we are not able to say with any certainty whether it is an optical illusion or an unexplained phenomenon, although scientists have implemented all methods of measurement and exploitation, classical and alternative.