British School at Rome: Papers of the British School at Rome (9.1920)

84 The British School at Rome.
been carried out with good results.1 In the area between the modern
town and the Madonna delle Grazie, half a kilometre away to the north,
known as Campo Ciarfegna, the remains of a concrete core of a square
tomb, two' columbaria and several inhumation tombs, lined with tiles,
have been noted. These tombs yielded numerous funeral objects in
terracotta, glass, bronze and iron. Cerfennia, then, whose name is clearly
preserved in Campo Ciarfegna, must have been situated approximately
upon the site of Collarmele. It is to be regretted that this old Italic town
has left so little of interest in its remains both above and below ground.
We may regard as the course of the Via Claudia Valeria 2 the path
which cuts the highroad just by the Madonna delle Grazie, and, .after a
break, is continued in that running parallel with and just below the modern
road. The two run generally parallel for two kilometres in a well marked
depression, until they meet before crossing the Piano S. Nicola (1067
metres). The old track goes straight across, but the modern road makes
a considerable detour to the north. Just beyond the Casa Mascioli (Pl.
XII, 2) the road absorbs the track and continues alone through the gorge
below Monte Ventrino until the Forca Caruso is reached (1120 metres).
This track, which, all the way from Collarmele, winds in and out among
the spurs of the slopes descending from the higher ground north and south,
while the highroad keeps at a higher level along the hillside to the north,
cannot be other than the Via Claudia Valeria. Nowhere 3 is there any
trace of ancient pavement to be seen, but rough mediaeval cobblestones
are frequently visible, while the width of the track, some 6 metres on an
average, is consonant with the supposition that it follows the course of
an ancient road.
At the Casa Cantoniera the summit4 is reached. Here we must place
1 Notizie degli Scavi, 1903, p. 347, describes excavations near the Madonna delle
Grazie.
2 Nibby, Analisi, iii. 644, says that the course of the Via Valeria is clearly indicated
beyond the Fucine Lake by the site of Cerfennia at Collarmele and, especially beyond
Cerfennia by the imposing pass known as the Forca Caruso, whence the road descends
to the valley of the Aterno.
3 Abbate (Guida degli Abruzzi, p. 139) mentions cuttings on the ascent to Forca
Caruso. I did not observe any cutting which could be described as ancient, but probably
a closer and longer examination would reveal more definite traces.
1 It has been supposed by topographers that an arch was erected at the summit of
the pass in honour of the Empress Livia (C.I.L. ix. 3304, Liviae Drusi f. Augustas Matri
Ti. Caesaris st Drusi Germanici Superaequani public(e), on the authority of a letter of
Phoebonius, the author of the Historia Marsorum, to Holste. Phoebonius says clearly