DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0196
94 SUTRI. [chap. iv.
the honours of his native town. He pointed out a
cavern adjoining the vestibule of the church, now a
charnel-house, full of human bones. Here, he said, the
Christians had deposited their dead. The vestibule itself
had evidently been an ancient tomb, and the church, in
all probability, another, enlarged into its present dimen-
sions. It is called La Madonna del Parto.
On the top of the cliff, in the face of which the
church is excavated, stands the villa of the Marchese
Savorelli, in a beautiful grove of ilex and cypress, which
had attracted my eye on leaving the gate of Sutri. We
walked through the grove to the further edge of the cliff,
and lo ! the amphitheatre of Sutri lay beneath us — a
structure which, from its unique character, and picturesque
beauty, merits a detailed description.
Reader, imagine an epitome of the Colosseum, or of any
other amphitheatre you please, with corridors, seats, and
vomitories; the seats in many parts perfect, and the flights
of steps particularly sharp and fresh. Imagine such an
amphitheatre, smaller than such structures in general, not
built up with masonry, but in its every part hewn from
the solid rock, and most richly coloured—green and grey
weather-tints harmonising with the natural warm red hue
of the tufo; the upper edge of the whole not merely
fringed with shrubs, but bristling all round with forest
trees, which on one side overshadow it in a dense wood,
the classical ilex mingling with the solemn cypress ;—and
you have the amphitheatre of Sutri. The imagination of
a Claude or a Poussin could not have conceived a sylvan
theatre of more picturesque character.
Apart from its natural charms, this amphitheatre has
peculiar interest, as being perhaps the type of all those
celebrated structures raised by Imperial Rome, even of
the Colosseum itself. We have historical evidence that
the honours of his native town. He pointed out a
cavern adjoining the vestibule of the church, now a
charnel-house, full of human bones. Here, he said, the
Christians had deposited their dead. The vestibule itself
had evidently been an ancient tomb, and the church, in
all probability, another, enlarged into its present dimen-
sions. It is called La Madonna del Parto.
On the top of the cliff, in the face of which the
church is excavated, stands the villa of the Marchese
Savorelli, in a beautiful grove of ilex and cypress, which
had attracted my eye on leaving the gate of Sutri. We
walked through the grove to the further edge of the cliff,
and lo ! the amphitheatre of Sutri lay beneath us — a
structure which, from its unique character, and picturesque
beauty, merits a detailed description.
Reader, imagine an epitome of the Colosseum, or of any
other amphitheatre you please, with corridors, seats, and
vomitories; the seats in many parts perfect, and the flights
of steps particularly sharp and fresh. Imagine such an
amphitheatre, smaller than such structures in general, not
built up with masonry, but in its every part hewn from
the solid rock, and most richly coloured—green and grey
weather-tints harmonising with the natural warm red hue
of the tufo; the upper edge of the whole not merely
fringed with shrubs, but bristling all round with forest
trees, which on one side overshadow it in a dense wood,
the classical ilex mingling with the solemn cypress ;—and
you have the amphitheatre of Sutri. The imagination of
a Claude or a Poussin could not have conceived a sylvan
theatre of more picturesque character.
Apart from its natural charms, this amphitheatre has
peculiar interest, as being perhaps the type of all those
celebrated structures raised by Imperial Rome, even of
the Colosseum itself. We have historical evidence that