DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0594
486 SOVANA. [chap. xxvi.
lies in its being the birth-place of Hildebrand, Gregory VII.,
the great ecclesiastical reformer of the eleventh century,
the founder of the Papal supremacy over all secular power.
Of Roman remains I observed only three cippi in the
Piazza, with inscriptions of no general interest. Below the
Duomo, on the descent to the western gate, are portions of
the ancient wall, of emplecton, as at Sutri and Fallen. The
Etruscan town must have been of very small size, little
more than a mile in circumference. Yet the multitude and
character of its sepulchres would indicate considerable
importance, though this test is often fallacious. Suana
can never have been of much weight in the Etruscan State;
and must have been dependent on some larger city, pro-
bably on Volsinii.
Should any one be tempted to follow me to this
desolate site, which, during the winter months, may be
done with perfect impunity, let him leave Sovana by
the western gate. As he descends into the ravine he
will observe the opposite cliffs hewn into a long series of
architectural facades, among which one with a recessed
arch stands conspicuous. At this distance, indeed, he
might take it for a new stone building; but let him force
his way through the thick copse on the slope, and he finds
its whiteness is but the hoariness of antiquity. This
monument is called
La Fontana,
from some fancied resemblance to a fountain.8 It. is
hewn from the tufo cliff, and in general size and form
called Sovana—which is more consistent 8 The hole in the rock at the top of
with the Italian mode of corrupting the recess, shown in the woodcut at the
Latin names, as exemplified in Mantova, head of this chapter, has given rise to
Padova, Genova—and with the vulgar this name, but it is evidently the result
tendency to insert v.—Pavolo for Paolo. of mere accident.
lies in its being the birth-place of Hildebrand, Gregory VII.,
the great ecclesiastical reformer of the eleventh century,
the founder of the Papal supremacy over all secular power.
Of Roman remains I observed only three cippi in the
Piazza, with inscriptions of no general interest. Below the
Duomo, on the descent to the western gate, are portions of
the ancient wall, of emplecton, as at Sutri and Fallen. The
Etruscan town must have been of very small size, little
more than a mile in circumference. Yet the multitude and
character of its sepulchres would indicate considerable
importance, though this test is often fallacious. Suana
can never have been of much weight in the Etruscan State;
and must have been dependent on some larger city, pro-
bably on Volsinii.
Should any one be tempted to follow me to this
desolate site, which, during the winter months, may be
done with perfect impunity, let him leave Sovana by
the western gate. As he descends into the ravine he
will observe the opposite cliffs hewn into a long series of
architectural facades, among which one with a recessed
arch stands conspicuous. At this distance, indeed, he
might take it for a new stone building; but let him force
his way through the thick copse on the slope, and he finds
its whiteness is but the hoariness of antiquity. This
monument is called
La Fontana,
from some fancied resemblance to a fountain.8 It. is
hewn from the tufo cliff, and in general size and form
called Sovana—which is more consistent 8 The hole in the rock at the top of
with the Italian mode of corrupting the recess, shown in the woodcut at the
Latin names, as exemplified in Mantova, head of this chapter, has given rise to
Padova, Genova—and with the vulgar this name, but it is evidently the result
tendency to insert v.—Pavolo for Paolo. of mere accident.