DOI Artikel:
Floryan, Margrethe: Sacred woods and sacred ways: Ariccia revisited
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14576#0050
44
MARGRETHE FEORYAN
1. The Alban Hills. View of the Alban Mount {Mons Albanus)
accessibility we have come to be used to. Thus, even today we should perceive this site as a true asylum
(Fig. 1).
SANCTUARIES AND VILLAS
In Roman times, among the Ariccian woods were interspersed sanctuaries from among which the fol-
lowing two were the most important. The first one was a tempie dedicated to Jove Latiaris (Jupiter), erected
on the top of the Mons Albanus, almost 1000 mètres above sea level. This was an important pilgrimage des-
tination for Latin people. The mountain was also the final goal following a military victory. Processions left
Ariccia by the Via Appia, and as connoisseurs of the region and of Roman military history know, more than
five kilomètres of the route still run through the woods. The Diana Aricina sanctuary, situated between Aric-
cia and the Lake of Nemi, became yet another centre2.
The hunting conditions were quite extraordinary here. Since Roman times the woods have also been
dotted with villas and vineyards, orchards and beds of vegetables. Roman emperors and public servants spent
there long and hot summer days. Poets (Ovid, Horatio, Catullus and others) praised the scenery, and Pliny
focused on the crop, lauding the Ariccian cabbages in particular. The antique villa tradition held on, and
several sites near the Lake of Albano and the Lake of Nemi are fine testimonies to the 16th- to 18th-century
villeggiatura in this part of the Latium region.
One such example is the Chigi Palace and Park at Ariccia. With the Mons Albanus and the Diana Aric-
ina on the back scène, the Chigi complex remains a place that influences our ideas about nature, garden
and memory. Moreover, over the past two décades the complex has been undergoing some very interesting
developments.
ARICCIA AND AUTHENTICITY
In the early 17lh century the Savelli family had a hunting seat built at Ariccia3. Following the takeover
by a member of the highly influential Chigi family in 1661, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Rome's most celebrated
Because of its vicinity to the Lake of Nemi, also known under the name of Diana Nemorensis.
3 The influenee of the Savelli family, which counted several condottieri and cardinals, goes back to the 12* century. The name
was taken from the castle of Sabellum near Albano.
MARGRETHE FEORYAN
1. The Alban Hills. View of the Alban Mount {Mons Albanus)
accessibility we have come to be used to. Thus, even today we should perceive this site as a true asylum
(Fig. 1).
SANCTUARIES AND VILLAS
In Roman times, among the Ariccian woods were interspersed sanctuaries from among which the fol-
lowing two were the most important. The first one was a tempie dedicated to Jove Latiaris (Jupiter), erected
on the top of the Mons Albanus, almost 1000 mètres above sea level. This was an important pilgrimage des-
tination for Latin people. The mountain was also the final goal following a military victory. Processions left
Ariccia by the Via Appia, and as connoisseurs of the region and of Roman military history know, more than
five kilomètres of the route still run through the woods. The Diana Aricina sanctuary, situated between Aric-
cia and the Lake of Nemi, became yet another centre2.
The hunting conditions were quite extraordinary here. Since Roman times the woods have also been
dotted with villas and vineyards, orchards and beds of vegetables. Roman emperors and public servants spent
there long and hot summer days. Poets (Ovid, Horatio, Catullus and others) praised the scenery, and Pliny
focused on the crop, lauding the Ariccian cabbages in particular. The antique villa tradition held on, and
several sites near the Lake of Albano and the Lake of Nemi are fine testimonies to the 16th- to 18th-century
villeggiatura in this part of the Latium region.
One such example is the Chigi Palace and Park at Ariccia. With the Mons Albanus and the Diana Aric-
ina on the back scène, the Chigi complex remains a place that influences our ideas about nature, garden
and memory. Moreover, over the past two décades the complex has been undergoing some very interesting
developments.
ARICCIA AND AUTHENTICITY
In the early 17lh century the Savelli family had a hunting seat built at Ariccia3. Following the takeover
by a member of the highly influential Chigi family in 1661, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Rome's most celebrated
Because of its vicinity to the Lake of Nemi, also known under the name of Diana Nemorensis.
3 The influenee of the Savelli family, which counted several condottieri and cardinals, goes back to the 12* century. The name
was taken from the castle of Sabellum near Albano.