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Marmore Falls are located about 5 miles from the city of Terni, which is a provincial capital in Umbria region of central Italy.

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Image via Wikipedia (Umbria)

The falls are the tallest man-made waterfalls in the world and were created by the ancient Romans.

The total height of Marmore Falls is 541 feet but the falls are split into three sections. The top section has the highest total fall at 272 feet.

Source

Marmore Falls were created when the Romans built a canal to divert the flow of the Velino River over the Marmore cliffs in 271 BC. The Romans did this because the Velino River fed swamp land which would become infested with mosquitoes and malaria. While the canal solved the malaria problem it also created another problem for the city of Terni. During the rainy season the diverted water threatened to flood Terni. The issue was such a problem that the Roman Senate debated it and Cicero represented Terni, though nothing was done to solve the issue.

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In 1422, 1545 and 1787 the canal was either rebuilt or modified by order of the Pope. In 1929, a hydroelectric power plant was built above Marmore Falls and today most of the water that used to flow over the falls is diverted to the electric plant.

In order to accommodate tourists visiting the Marmore Falls today, water is allowed to flow over the falls at full force at set times each day.

Visitors can take a path that leads to the top of the falls, and along the path is a tunnel that leads to an observatory near the top where visitors will get absolutely soaked when the water flows at full force.