DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0205
chap, iv.] LEGENDS OF SUTRI. 103
■with the Villa SavoreUi is a ruin, pointed out as the house
in which Charlemagne took up his abode, when on his
way to Rome, to succour Adrian I., but it is evidently of
much later date. Nor is Orlando the only hero of former
times of whom Sutri has to boast. She lays claim to the
nativity of that much execrated character, Pontius Pilate,
and a house is still shown as the identical one in which
he was born; though the building is obviously of the
middle ages.
There are many curious legends hanging about this old
town of Sutri. At the angle of a house in the main street
is an ass's or sheep's head of stone, minus the ears, which,
like the Moorish statues in the vaults of the Alhambra,
is believed to have been placed there as the guardian of
hidden treasure. Not that any stores of wealth have yet
been brought to light—no—for no one has yet been able
to determine on what spot the eyes of this mysterious ass
are fixed; but its existence is not the less implicitly be-
lieved, and not by the vulgar only. Our artist friend who
accompanied us round Sutri, and his father, who is one of
the principal inhabitants, had jointly made researches for
the said treasure. Thinking they had discovered the
direction of the asinine regards, they hired an opposite
house, commenced delving into its foundations, and
doubted not to have found the object of their search, had
they not been stopped by the authorities, who, wishing to
keep the spoils to themselves, had forbidden all private
speculation in this fine. He had made however more
profitable excavations. He had opened several tombs in
the ground above the sculptured cliffs, and had brought to
light vases, bronzes, and other valuable relics, a detailed
description of which I could not obtain. Sutri has been
so little explored, that it is probable great treasures of
antiquity are yet to be found in its neighbourhood. The
■with the Villa SavoreUi is a ruin, pointed out as the house
in which Charlemagne took up his abode, when on his
way to Rome, to succour Adrian I., but it is evidently of
much later date. Nor is Orlando the only hero of former
times of whom Sutri has to boast. She lays claim to the
nativity of that much execrated character, Pontius Pilate,
and a house is still shown as the identical one in which
he was born; though the building is obviously of the
middle ages.
There are many curious legends hanging about this old
town of Sutri. At the angle of a house in the main street
is an ass's or sheep's head of stone, minus the ears, which,
like the Moorish statues in the vaults of the Alhambra,
is believed to have been placed there as the guardian of
hidden treasure. Not that any stores of wealth have yet
been brought to light—no—for no one has yet been able
to determine on what spot the eyes of this mysterious ass
are fixed; but its existence is not the less implicitly be-
lieved, and not by the vulgar only. Our artist friend who
accompanied us round Sutri, and his father, who is one of
the principal inhabitants, had jointly made researches for
the said treasure. Thinking they had discovered the
direction of the asinine regards, they hired an opposite
house, commenced delving into its foundations, and
doubted not to have found the object of their search, had
they not been stopped by the authorities, who, wishing to
keep the spoils to themselves, had forbidden all private
speculation in this fine. He had made however more
profitable excavations. He had opened several tombs in
the ground above the sculptured cliffs, and had brought to
light vases, bronzes, and other valuable relics, a detailed
description of which I could not obtain. Sutri has been
so little explored, that it is probable great treasures of
antiquity are yet to be found in its neighbourhood. The