Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

Introduction

"Vides ut alta stet nive candidum
Soracte, .." (Horace, Ode, I, IX)
In J. V. Cunningham's translation, "See how resplendent in deep snow/ Soracte stands."

"Summe deum, sancti custos Soractis Apollo" (Virgil, Aeneid, XI, 785)
In J. Dryden's translation, "O patron of Soractes' high abodes, Phoebus."

"These hills seem things of lesser dignity,
All, save the lone Soracte's height displayed,
Not NOW in snow, which asks the lyric Roman's aid." (Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, IV, LXXIV)

"The view from the castle of Civita Castellana is magnificent. Soracte stands out by itself in picturesque solitude." (J. W. Goethe, Italian Journey, 28 October 1786)

"Soracte, be it in January or May, rises from its blue horizon like an island from the sea and with an elegance of contour which no mood of the year can deepen or diminish. You know it well; you have seen it often in the mellow backgrounds of Claude (Lorrain); and it has such an irresistibly classic, academic air that while you look at it you begin to take your saddle for a faded old arm-chair in a palace gallery." (Henry James, Italian Hours - Roman Rides)

This impressive literary florilegium is related to a pretty low mountain (691 m. / 2,267 ft), so it was not its height which raised such an enthusiasm. It is rather the fact that it stands alone and it is visible from a very vast area which includes Rome.

View of Monte Soratte from Villa Medici (detail of a painting by a French artist working in Rome, circa 1790, courtesy of Guy Stair Sainty)

Not only writers and poets were attracted by Monte Soratte, but painters too added to the celebrity of this mountain: French painters in particular, following the example of Claude Lorrain, painted several views of Monte Soratte, which they could see from the gardens of Villa Medici, the location of the French Academy. Giuseppe Vasi showed Monte Soratte in his 1765 View from the Janiculum and the mountain can still be seen from there, notwithstanding the expansion of modern Rome.
You may wish to see a modern map showing the area near Monte Soratte.

View of Monte Soratte and S. Oreste from Rignano Flaminio

The road approaches the broad plains of the Tiber. (..) Monte Soracte gives a new feature to the landscape, and continues for several stages to be the most prominent object from the road. From its great height it appears much nearer than it really is, and seems to follow the traveller, so extensive is the circuit which the road makes round it.
Murray's Handbook for travellers in central Italy - 1843
The scenery grew more and more beautiful when Rignano was left behind, and we trotted along the Flaminian Way, skirting the base of Soracte, on its acclivities each little town and mediaeval church clearly distinguishable. This mountain - immortalised by Virgil and by Horace - is visible from Rome. It rises from the plain, a rugged mass of reddish limestone, lifting its sharp and beautifully defined crest far above the Tiber. (..) Archaeologists recognise it as the shrine of ancient pagan gods, and the historian prizes it as the scene of many important events during the Middle Ages.
Ferdinand Gregorovius - An excursion through Sabina and Umbria in 1861 - Transl. by Dorothea Roberts

Views from the railway station of S. Oreste: (above) Monte Soratte; (below) S. Silvestro, the convent at its top

For the first five miles the road was the modern Via Flaminia, which after crossing the Treia, ascends to the level of the Campagna, and continues through a country but partially wooded and cultivated, yet not without beauty, to the foot of Soracte. The mountain itself is sufficient to obviate all tedium on the ride. At first it presents the form of a dark wedge or cone, the end towards you being densely clothed with wood; but as you approach it lengthens out gradually, peak after peak disclosing itself, till it presents a totally different aspect - a long serrated ridge, rising at first in bright green slopes from the plain, then darkening above with a belt of olive-groves, and terminating in a bald crest of grey rock, jagged and craggy, its peaks capt with white convents, which sparkle in the sun like jewels on a diadem. The whole mass reminded me of Gibraltar; it is about the same length - it rises to about the same height above the plain - it has the same pyramidal form when foreshortened, a similar line of jagged peaks. There is not the stern savage grandeur of the Andalucian Rock; but the true Italian grace and ease of outline - still the beautiful though verging on the wild. (..) The rock of which the mountain is composed here starts up in bold crags on every side; it is a sort of limestone, which is to be found of various shades of grey, and sometimes almost white. Among these crags a path winds up to the summit of the mountain. Here the traveller will find a colony of recluses, and the several churches of Sta. Lucia, La Madonna delle Grazie, Sant' Antonio, and San Silvestro. The latter stands on the central and highest peak of the mountain, and is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient temple of Apollo, to which deity Soracte was sacred. It can boast of no small antiquity itself, having been founded in A.D. 746, by Carloman, son of Charles Martel, and uncle of the celebrated Charlemagne, in honour of the saint whose name it bears. If anything could reconcile me to the life of a recluse it would be a residence in such a situation as this - commanding one of the most magnificent views in this all-glorious land.
George Dennis - The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria - 1848
Monte Soratte was sacred to Apollo and as has happened on many other occasions, the site of the ancient temple at its top was chosen by hermits as the location to detach themselves from worldly affairs. Carloman founded a convent on Monte Soratte before moving to Montecassino.

Views of the Tiber Valley from Sant'Oreste towards Sabina in early February: (above) 10.00 a.m.; (below) noon

The view on the ascent (along the western side of the mountain) is magnificent - the vast expanse of the wild, almost uninhabited, Campagna at my feet - here dark with wood, from which the towers of a few towns arose at wide intervals - there sweeping away in league after league of bare down or heath - the double-headed mass of the Ciminian on the right - the more distant Alban on the other hand - the sharp wooded peak of Rocca Romana between them - the varied effects of light and shade, of cloud and sunshine, as storms arose from time to time and crossed the scene, darkening and shrouding a portion of the landscape, which presently came forth laughing in brilliant sunshine; while the lowering cloud moved on, blotting out one object after another on which the eye but a moment before had been resting with delight. Dennis

View of the Tiber valley from the rear of Palazzo Rosati at Sant'Oreste; in the foreground Ponzano

At the Romitorio, a hamlet of a few ruined houses, I left the Via Flaminia, and striking across some fields and through a wood, ascended, by wretched tracks saturated with rain, to the olive-groves which belt the mountain. From the rocky ridge leading to S. Oreste a new scene comes into view. A richly wooded valley lies beneath, with the Tiber winding through it; and the Apennines rise away far to the south till they sink all faint and grey into the Latin valley, at the steep of Palestrina. Dennis
Sant'Oreste enjoys great views over the surrounding countryside: in theory it is possible to see Rome, because from Rome one can see Sant'Oreste. You may wish to see views of Monte Soratte and S. Oreste from Palombara and Castel San Pietro, near Palestrina.

View of S. Silvestro from "Augustus J. C. Hare - Days near Rome - 1875"

A carriage can ascend the mountain as far as S. Oreste, and here we left it near the gate of the town and followed a foot-path, which turns up to the left by a small chapel. It is about two miles to the top. Most of the convents are in ruins. Sta. Lucia is the first which comes in sight, on the crest of the nearest peak, then Sta. Romana on the eastern slope. Then, by the pilgrims' road which winds through an avenue of ancient ilexes and elms, we reached the gates of Sta. Maria delle Grazie. The long drive, and the steep walk in the great heat, had made us faint with hunger and thirst. The monks came out with wine, and slices of Bologna sausage and delicious coarse bread, to a room at the gate, for ladies are not allowed to enter the walls, and never was refreshment more acceptable. There are only thirteen monks now, who live an active life of charity, and whose advice and instruction are widely sought by the country people around. Hare

Roman stones (a granite column, an inscription and a relief) at S. Oreste, maybe from the Temple to Apollo

Three monks went with us to the top, where the temple of Apollo, the "guardian of the holy Soracte," formerly stood, and where the Hirpini, as the people of the surrounding district were called, came to offer their annual sacrifices. On the supposed site of the ancient temple, 2270 feet above the level of the sea, perched on the highest points of the perpendicular crags, its walls one with their precipices, now stands the monastery of S. Silvestro. It is a sublime position, removed from and above everything else. Hawks circle around its huge cliffs, and are the only sign of life. On a lower terrace are the church and hermitage of S. Antonio ruined and deserted. To these solitudes came Constantine to seek for Sylvester the hermit, whom he found here in a cave and led away to raise to the papal throne, walking before him as he rode upon his mule, as is represented in the ancient frescoes of the Quattro Incoronati. Hare

View of Monte Soratte from Porta Valle of Sant'Oreste

In past times the wood was very thick on Soracte, and afforded shelter to multitudes of wolves and bears which were wont to ravage the Campagna for miles around. About twenty years since the wood was cut, and the wild beasts disappeared with it, and retired to the Apennines. Dennis
In 1937 Italy decided to build an anti-aircraft shelter inside Monte Soratte for the Royal Family, the Government and the highest members of the Army. It was made up of a series of galleries which penetrated deep into the mountain. In 1943, at the fall of the Fascist Regime, the facilities were yet to be completed, but they were utilized by the German High Command until May 1944. In the late 1960s the project was revamped to become an anti-nuclear shelter, but it was subsequently abandoned. Guided tours are organized by a local association.

Sant'Oreste

View of S. Oreste (from Hare's book)

On emerging from the wood, Sant Oreste was seen before us, situated on a bare elevated shoulder of the mountain. Dennis
To my regret, it was impossible for me to visit the town of S. Oreste, which nestles so invitingly on the very summit of the mountain. Archaeologists allege that the famous Temple of Feronia once stood there. Gregorovius
Separated from the main mass of the mountain on the Roman side, is an attendant rock supporting the picturesque little town of Sant'Oreste, which has given its modern name to Soracte. At the foot of this smaller hill is the fountain of Felonica, marking the side of Feronia, where the peasants of the surrounding districts offered their first fruits to the great Sabine goddess, who would seem to have been identical with Proserpine. Hare

St. Edisto: (left) relief above Porta Valle, the main gate of the town; (centre) modern statue at Collegiata di S. Lorenzo; (right) fresco portraying also St. Roch at S. Biagio

St. Oreste: you would vainly look for such a saint; the name of the town is most likely a corruption of Soractes, the Latin name of the mountain: medieval amanuenses thought the initial S stood for S(aint) and then changed the rest of the word to the most similar name they knew, the Greek Orestes. The patron saint of the little town is St. Edisto, a martyr, who is shown also in the image used as a background for this page. He was a Roman soldier, but he is no longer in the official list of saints, as the historical evidence related to him was found to be shaky.

(left) Porta Valle or S. Silvestro; (centre) Porta La Dentro or S. Edisto; (right) a section of the town walls

Sant Oreste is a wretched village, with steep, foul streets and mean houses - without any accommodation for the stranger. Dennis
St Oreste has about 1000 inhabitants, but no inn; travellers, however, are received in a house outside the gates by a wealthy family who seem to take pleasure in showing attention to strangers. Murray
Sant'Oreste was described by Dennis as a wretched village, but it was an unfair comment because the little town has several interesting buildings in addition to walls and three gates, whereas most of the nearby towns have just one gate, e.g. Civitella S. Paolo and Nazzano.

(left) Palazzo Abbaziale; (right) coat of arms of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and 1595 inscription

Sant'Oreste has a medieval origin and it was a possession of Monastero di S. Paolo until 1546 when it was acquired by Monastero di S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane, of which Cardinal Alessandro Farnese iuniore was the nominal abbot. He and later on Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, nephew of Pope Clement VIII, promoted the economic development of the area around Sant'Oreste and gave its citizens a charter of rights.

Palazzo Caccia Canali

The palace was built in 1589 by Giovanni Caccia from a noble family of Novara. He is likely to have had an advisory or management role at the court of Cardinal Alessandro and in general of the Farnese family, whose fiefdoms in Northern Latium included the towns of Ronciglione, Caprarola and Nepi and the Duchy of Castro. Giovanni Ambrogio Caccia was Bishop of Castro in 1603-1611. The palace was designed and decorated by the team of artists and masons who worked at the nearby Palazzo Farnese di Caprarola.

Palazzo Caccia Canali: (left) portal with a modern inscription attributing the design of the palace to Giacomo Barozzi il Vignola, the architect of Palazzo Farnese and many other palaces (Villa Giulia) and churches (Tempio di S. Andrea); (right) personal heraldic symbols of Giovanni Caccia

Giovanni Caccia's coat of arms was created by himself. He added his personal symbols, a hunting dog (It. caccia means hunt) and the fleurs-de-lis of the Farnese to the family coat of arms (white and red horizontal stripes), which can be seen inside Collegiata di S. Lorenzo.

Former Town Hall

This small palace is placed at the centre of the little town and it was the first residence of the Caccia. Part of it was bought in 1616 to house the Town Hall. It is decorated with the coats of arms of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and of a Ludovisi or Pamphilj cardinal. The heraldic symbols were most likely erased by the French in the early XIXth century. The relief between the central windows is shown in the image used as background for this page.

(left) Palazzo Lupi or De Lupis; (right) Palazzo Rosati

In addition to the Caccia also some other families were able to build small palaces with architectural pretensions. An inscription (poorly) carved on three windows says: "IOB/ M. DE LUPIS/ D. MAG. M. DE LUPIS/ A. D. MLXXX ME". The year was most likely MDXXX, (1530) or MDLXXX (1580).
A Monsignor Bernardino Lupi, son of Tarquinio Lupi and Gentilesca Caccia, was in friendly terms with Cardinal Aldobrandini and at his death in 1622 he bequeathed an important sum to a local church.
Palazzo Rosati, in origin a granary, stands isolated at the top of the town in an area which the locals called Piazza delle Capre (of the goats).

(left) Collegiata di S. Lorenzo; (centre) façade; (right) coat of arms on the bell tower which resembles that of S. Paolo fuori le Mura

The parish church of Sant'Oreste replaced a smaller one and its design is attributed to il Vignola who mentioned it in a 1568 letter. It was built next to an existing tower. It was consecrated in 1600. The façade was completed only in 1818 and it reflects changes made by a Jesuit father.

Collegiata di S. Lorenzo: (left) interior; (right) 1638 organ with the coat of arms of the Caccia

The interior has a large central nave with aisles with chapels on the sides. Initially the church was shorter and it ended with a frescoed apse, of which a small part is still noticeable in the current ceiling. In 1746 it was prolonged by a stucco decorated new apse. The fine wooden organ was made by Ennio Bonifazi (see his organ at S. Maria sopra Minerva).

Collegiata di S. Lorenzo: (left) Cappella della Madonna del Rosario; (right) detail showing some of the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary

The altarpiece is dated 1576 and it was painted to celebrate the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. The day of the victory (October 7) was dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. The canvas, by an unknown, but good painter, depicts the 15 events (Mysteries) in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother Mary which are included as meditations in the Rosary prayer. The two saints are St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena.

S. Biagio: interior

The church is first mentioned in a 1422 chronicle and it underwent a general enlargement and renovation in 1595. It was chiefly a burial church and the apse was reserved to tombstones of members of the city council or representatives of S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane. In 1792 it was demolished and rebuilt in its current shape.

S. Biagio: (left) Banner of a brotherhood of S. Giovanni Decollato (see the Roman church of a similar brotherhood); (centre) Banner of a brotherhood della Buona Morte (see the Roman church of a similar brotherhood); (right) evidence of a burial site of the medieval church which was discovered in 2006

Move on to Rignano Flaminio and Faleria.