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Visit Rome following 8 XVIIIth century itineraries XVIIIth century Rome in the 10 Books of Giuseppe Vasi - Le Magnificenze di Roma Antica e Moderna The Grand View of Rome by G. Vasi The Environs of Rome: Frascati, Tivoli, Albano and other small towns near Rome A 1781 map of Rome by G. Vasi An 1852 map of Rome by P. Letarouilly Rome seen by a 1905 armchair traveller in the paintings by Alberto Pisa The 14 historical districts of Rome An abridged history of Rome How to spend a peaceful day in Rome Baroque sculptors and their works The coats of arms of the popes in the monuments of Rome Pages on a specific pope Pages complementing the itineraries and the views by Giuseppe Vasi Walks in the Roman countryside and in other towns of Latium following Ferdinand Gregorovius A Directory of links to the Churches of Rome A Directory of links to the Palaces and Villas of Rome A Directory of links to the Other Monuments of Rome A Directory of Baroque Architects with links to their works A Directory of links to Monuments of Ancient Rome A Directory of links to Monuments of Medieval Rome A Directory of links to Monuments of Renaissance A Directory of links to Monuments of the Late Renaissance A list of the most noteworthy Roman Families Directories of fountains, obelisks, museums, etc. Books and guides used for developing this web site An illustrated Glossary of Art Terms Venice and the Levant Roman recollections in Florence A list of Italian towns shown in this web site Venetian Fortresses in Greece Vienna seen by an Italian XVIIIth century traveller A list of foreign towns shown in this web site
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All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore.
Page revised in April 2011.

To the Italian visitors of my web site

Ferdinand Gregorovius' Walks - Anzio
 (detail of a fresco at S. Onofrio; this page is also part of Giuseppe Vasi's Environs of Rome description)

On the Latin Shores

This page is based on Idyllen vom Lateinischen Ufer (external link with some drawings by the author), a description of the shores of Latium near the town of Anzio by Ferdinand Gregorovius, a German historian who lived in Rome for 22 years.
On June 24, 1854 Gregorovius left Rome from Porta S. Giovanni; the journey to Anzio took five hours: the last two hours were spent crossing a thick wood which at the time was a brigands' favourite retreat.
Gregorovius had already seen the shores of Naples and Sicily, so at first he found the low coast around Anzio rather disappointing, although it reminded him of the dunes of the Baltic Sea in his country; day after day his feelings changed and he fell in love with this corner of Italy and with the memories of the past it retained.

Villa di Nerone

Roman ruins
(left) Modern statue of Emperor Nero by Claudio Valenti; (centre/right) columns in the former site of Villa di Nerone

In 68 AD the Roman Senate declared Nero hostis (enemy) of the Republic and after his death proclaimed his damnatio memoriae, the removal of all references to him, such as statues and inscriptions. Yet in recent years historians have made a less negative assessment of the policies pursued by this emperor and in 2010 the authorities of Anzio built a monument to their most famous fellow citizen; the dedicatory inscription highlights that during the reign of Nero the Roman Empire saw a long period of peace and growth.

Roman ruins
Villa di Nerone: warehouses of the ancient harbour

The archaeological site which today is referred to as Villa di Nerone is actually an imperial villa which was inhabited almost continuously from the time of Emperor Augustus to that of Emperor Septimius Severus; it faced south-west in order to enjoy sunlight and the sea breeze; it was preceded by a large harbour, the wharfs of which are today under sea level. It was not the only villa in the area, as also Cicero had a villa not far away (probably at Torre Astura). During the Renaissance several ancient statues were found in these villas, the best known being a statue of Apollo called del Belvedere, because it was placed in that residence of the popes; during his walks along the beach Gregorovius noted many fragments of the marbles which decorated the Roman villas.

Roman ruins
Villa di Nerone: (left) library; (right) baths

Antium (ancient Anzio) was famous for a sanctuary to Fortuna (the personification of luck), which rivalled that of Praeneste and which was quoted by Horace (Odes - I-XXXV)

O diva gratum quae regis Antium,Lady of Antium, grave and stern!
praesens vel imo tollere de graduO Goddess, who canst lift the low
mortale corpus, vel superbosTo high estate, and sudden turn
vertere funeribus triumphos,A triumph to a funeral show!
_Translation by John Conington, 1882

Archaeologists have not been able to identify the site of this sanctuary, which was probably located to the east of Antium towards Nettuno.

Roman ruins
Villa di Nerone: "grottoni" (artificial caves)

Porto Innocenziano

Harbour
(left) Small castle which protected the harbour; (right) entrance to the castle with coat of arms and inscription celebrating a restoration by Pope Pius VII

After the fall of the Roman Empire the villas were abandoned and the harbour was no longer maintained; marshes developed along the coast and the area became unhealthy because of malaria. In 1698 Pope Innocent XII built a new small harbour to the east of the ancient one and set up a penal colony to provide the workforce for dredging the sea floor. Gregorovius wrote that many of the inmates used to remain at Anzio after they had served their sentence, so that the population, similar to Australia, mainly originated from the presence of the penal colony. Fishing was the main economic resource of Anzio, but the locals were not fishermen, who instead came from Naples and Ischia.

Views
(above) View towards Nettuno (the fortress and the medieval burg are on the left part of the image); in the background the snowy mountains behind Cori (right part of the image); (below) view towards Torre Astura

From the new harbour of Anzio Gregorovius enjoyed a commanding view over the coast of southern Latium, which at the time, exception made for the fortress and the medieval burg of Nettuno, was totally unpopulated. Notwithstanding the desolation of the site, Gregorovius was fascinated by seeing Torre Astura, where in 1268 Conradin of Swabia, the last German emperor of the Hohenstaufen family, was betrayed and handed over to Charles I of Anjou; on a clear day Gregorovius could see Monte Circello (today Circeo) further down the coast, the mythological home of the sorceress Circe, where Ulysses spent a year before deciding to return to Ithaca.

Villas of Papal Families

Villa Borghese
Villa Costaguti Borghese seen from the harbour of Anzio (left) and from the coastal road (right)

In 1648 Anzio was again chosen as the site of a summer residence by Cardinal Vincenzo Costaguti who built a villa at the centre of a large wood to the east of the abandoned port; in 1698 the Costaguti hosted Pope Innocent XII when he came to Anzio to follow the construction of the new harbour. The main building, due to the risk of corsair raids, is more similar to a fortress than to the elegant casinos which decorated the villas near Rome.

Villa Borghese
Watch tower of Villa Borghese

In 1831 Prince Camillo Borghese acquired the estate, which still belongs to the family; a section of the park which includes a much renovated watch tower today houses wedding parties (see website - external link).
The image in the background of this page shows the heraldic symbols of the Borghese.

Palazzo Albani
(left) Façade of Villa Albani; (right) detail showing the heraldic symbols of Pope Clement XI (a star on the railing) and of Pope Pius IX (a rampant lion on the lintel)

After the completion of the new harbour Anzio returned to be a holiday resort for the richest Roman families; their villas were built at a certain distance from the coastline and on high ground in order to reduce the risk of malaria and they were used just for a short period in spring and early summer before the heat spread the disease.
In the 1720s Cardinal Alessandro Albani, nephew of Pope Clement XI, who was a keen collector of ancient statues, bought a large property near Villa di Nerone; the casino was perhaps designed by Alessandro Specchi; twenty years later the cardinal started to build a large suburban villa off Porta Salaria for arranging his collection there.
In 1852 the villa was bought by Pope Pius IX who renovated the casino and loved to spend a few weeks there in May; the pope promoted the development of Anzio and built an imposing church in the main square of the town which is still called after him.

Palazzo Albani
Plaques on the same house celebrating Pope Pius IX (left) and Giuseppe Garibaldi (right)

During Pope Pius IX's sojourn at Anzio, some celebrations (usually ending with fireworks) were held in the harbour. In 1858 he watched these celebrations for the sixth time from a small house, where the owner put an inscription to record the event. The temporal power of the popes came to its end in 1870 and in 1875 Giuseppe Garibaldi (a bandit in 1858 and a national hero in 1875) spent a night in the house and a second inscription celebrated the event.

Villa Corsini
(left) Villa Corsini Sarsina (today the Town Hall of Anzio); (right-above) a watchpost; (right-below) coat of arms of Pope Clement XII

The example of Cardinal Albani was followed a few years later by Cardinal Neri Corsini, nephew of Pope Clement XII, who built his villa above the foundations of an ancient temple; in 1878 an ancient statue was found in the premises of Villa Corsini; it portrays a young woman, but archaeologists have been unable to identify her as a goddess or a historical personage; it is therefore known as La Fanciulla di Anzio (The Girl from Anzio); it was bought by the Italian State and it is now on display at Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (you may wish to see it in this external link).

WWII Memories

The Landing
(left) Map of the 1944 landings in the harbour; (right) inscription celebrating the 50th anniversary; ceremonies were attended by President Bill Clinton

Operation Shingle, the landings of Allied troops at Anzio and Nettuno in January 1944, had the objective of hastening the liberation of Rome; the landings were successful, but the overall operation ended in stalemate and only in May the forces in the bridgehead were able to make a common front with those arriving from the south. The Allies made their entrance into Rome on June 5. Large war cemeteries at Anzio and Nettuno are evidence of the fierce fights which took place in the area and which caused more than 12,000 deaths.

The Landing
Rome, Via del Corso, June 1944

Move to part two: Nettuno and Torre Astura


Giuseppe Vasi
Digressione breve e deliziosa

Per ritrovare alcuni luoghi celebri ne' contorni di Roma.

Anzio città antichissima, e Nettuno castello moderno
Camminando poi per la strada sotto Albano, 40. miglia lungi da Roma, si trovano le rovine di quella città posta sulla spiaggia del mare tirreno, celebre appresso i Gentili, perchè in essa fu custodito con somma superstizione un libro, in cui erano scritte alcune opinioni di Pittagora. Prese quel nome da uno de' figliuoli di Ulisse e di Circe, e ne' suoi principj non ebbe porto, perchè i suoi cittadini erano tutti dediti alla magnificenza, e delizia della città; ma poi datisi alla navigazione, divennero sì periti e prodi, che per le scorrerie, che facevano sopra i Greci, furono ripresi dal Senato Romano, e poi essendo ricercati dà Romani, che prontamente prendessero le armi contro Annibale; furono fatti esenti dalle pubbliche gravezze. Quindi venendo più volte guasta da' nemici corsari, fu da Claudio Nerone suo cittadino ristaurata, ed accresciuta con superbi edifizj, e con un magnifico porto, spendendovi i tesori non solamente di Roma, ma anco di tutto l'Imperio, e poi Adriano alla magnificenza della città e del porto aggiunse l'amenità di una villa, onde Anzio era la delizia de' Romani.
Fu altresì famosa quella città per li due gran tempj, uno della Fortuna, l'altro di Venere Afrodisia, e di Esculapio, per la cui fabbrica vi contribuì tutto l'Imperio, per compiacere l'ambizione di. Cajo Caligola similmente nato in quella.
Dalle rovine di quella città sorse poi il castello di Nettuno per opera de' Colonnesi, e prese un tal nome, perchè eretto nel sito del famoso tempio di Nettuno, celebre appresso i Poeti, in cui da' viandanti si facevano frequenti sagrifizj di bovi, acciò avesse impedito il mugito delle onde agitate dall'impeto de' venti, e conceduto loro propizio il viaggio.
Non molto lungi da Nettuno è il fiume Astura, celebre anche esso per un castello, di cui non resta alcuna memoria, che una torre, appresso a cui, secondo alcuni, seguì la morte di M. Tullio Cicerone, il quale volendo fuggire l'insidie di Marco Antonino, ivi fu sopraggiunto da Popilio ingratissimo uomo.
Innoc. XII. rifece il porto incontro all'antico Anzio col disegno di Carlo Fontana, andandovi egli in persona per facilitare l'opera, e fu ricevuto e trattato dalle nobilissime famiglie Colonnese, Borghese, Panfilia, e Costaguti, perchè ivi fanno magnifici casini, con deliziose ville. Benedetto XIV. vi andò similmente per darci l'ultima mano, e fu trattato dalla Eccma famiglia Corsini, che vi ha un sontuoso palazzo, vicino a quello del Cardinale Alessandro Albani, i quali tutti meritano d'esser veduti.


Introductory page on Ferdinand Gregorovius
Other walks by Ferdinand Gregorovius:
Roman Campagna: Colonna and Zagarolo; Palestrina; Genazzano; Paliano; Anagni
The Ernici Mountains: Ferentino; Alatri
The Volsci Mountains: Valmontone; Segni; Norma; Cori
Circe's Cape: Terracina; San Felice
The Orsini Castle in Bracciano
Subiaco, the oldest Benedictine monastery


Pages on towns of Latium other than Rome In the Duchy of Castro: Farnese, Ischia di Castro, Valentano, Gradoli, Capodimonte, Marta In Maremma: Corneto (Tarquinia), Montalto, Canino A Pilgrim's Way: Via Francigena: Acquapendente, Bolsena, Montefiascone In and about Viterbo: Viterbo, Bagnoregio, S. Martino al Cimino, Tuscania, Bomarzo, S. Maria della Querce, Bagnaia, Orte, Vasanello, Vitorchiano From Civitavecchia to Civita Castellana: Civitavecchia, Tolfa, Allumiere, Oriolo Romano, Capranica, Sutri, Bassano, Monterosi, Nepi, Castel d'Elia, Civita Castellana From Bracciano to Viterbo: Manziana, Canale Monterano, Vejano, Barbarano, Blera, Vetralla Around Monte Cimino: Ronciglione, Caprarola, Carbognano, Fabrica, Corchiano, Vignanello, Vallerano, Soriano The Bracciano Lake: Bracciano, Trevignano, Anguillara At the foot of Monte Soratte: S. Oreste, Rignano, Faleria Land of the Romans' wives: Montopoli, Poggio Mirteto, Casperia, Cantalupo, Roccantica Sentinels on the Highway: Fiano Romano, Civitella S. Paolo, Nazzano, Torrita Tiberina, Filacciano, Ponzano Along Via Aurelia: Palidoro, Palo, S. Severa and S. Marinella A Walk to Malborghetto: Prima Porta, Malborghetto Branching off Via Cassia: S. Maria di Galeria, Formello, Isola Farnese To Nomentum and beyond: Mentana, Monterotondo, Palombara A Walk to Ponte di Nona: ancient monuments along Via Prenestina Via Appia Antica A short and delicious digression: Tivoli, Montecompatri, Monte Porzio Catone, Frascati, Grottaferrata, Marino, Castelgandolfo, Albano, Ariccia, Genzano, Velletri, Nemi, Rocca di Papa, Rocca Priora, Civita Lavinia (Lanuvio), Porto, Ostia Where the painters found their models: Anticoli Corrado, Castelmadama, Vicovaro, Arsoli Subiaco The Roman Campagna: Palestrina, Genazzano, Paliano, Anagni The Ernici Mountains: Ferentino, Alatri The Volsci Mountains: Valmontone, Colonna, Segni, Norma, Cori On the Latin Shores: Anzio, Nettuno, Torre Astura On the edge of the marsh: Sermoneta, Sezze, Priverno Circe's Cape: S. Felice, Terracina Veroli Branching off Via Flaminia: Riano, Castelnuovo di Porto, Morlupo, Leprignano (Capena)

Latium was enlarged in the 1920s with territories from the neighbouring regions: the map on the left shows the current borders of Latium; the map on the right has links to pages covering towns of historical Latium: in order to see them you must hover and click on the dots.

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