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A stereotypical image of today's Romans associates them
with eating saucy bucatini all'Amatriciana (click here for a You Tube video showing how they should be prepared), rather than
caring about their fitness and health. This widely held view is not entirely accurate: a stroll in the early morning or in the late
afternoon in one of the many parks of Rome shows that jogging and exercising
are pretty popular, especially among the not so very young.
Via di Valle delle Camene is a popular spot for jogging: it is a slightly winding narrow street which runs parallel to Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, an alley which links a large square dedicated to King Numa Pompilius with Circus Maximus. The area was redesigned in the early XXth century and on that occasion the references to Numa Pompilius and the Camenae were made. Jogging there helps exercising the mind, not just the body...
Titus Livius wrote a monumental History of Rome during the reign of Augustus. He associated Romulus, the first legendary king of Rome with events which are typical of the founder of a nation, including the killing of his twin Remus. Then Titus Livius decided to emphasize the sacral aspect of the City by portraying Numa Pompilius, the second king, as a very pious man: The justice and piety of Numa Pompilius was at that time celebrated. He dwelt at Cures, a city of the Sabines, and was as eminently learned in all law, human and divine, as any man could be in that age. he set about establishing anew, on the principles of law and morality, the newly founded city that had been already established by force of arms. (Titus Livius - Book I translation by John Henry Freese, Alfred John Church, and William Jackson Brodribb). In Ancient Rome (and in Ancient Greece) religious ceremonies were performed by magistrates (including kings) and the traditional iconography of Numa Pompilius shows him with his head covered in the act of officiating. This is a major difference versus the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean where priests played a major role.
And while the people of their own accord were forming themselves on the model of the king, as the most excellent example, the neighbouring states also, who had formerly thought that it (Rome) was a camp, not a city, that had been established in their midst to disturb the general peace, were brought to feel such respect for them that they considered it impious to molest a state, wholly occupied in the worship of the gods. There was a grove, the middle of which was irrigated by a spring of running water, flowing from a dark grotto. As Numa often repaired thither unattended, under pretence of meeting the goddess, he dedicated the grove to the Camenae, because, as he asserted, their meetings with his wife Egeria were held there. (Titus Livius - ditto ditto).
Fons Camenarum was a spring at the foot of the Caelian Hill where later on the Mattei built their villa. The Camenae were four nymphs who lived in the grove of black poplars around the spring. Their names were: Carmenta (who among other powers possessed that of prophecy), Postvorta (goddess of the past), Antevorta (goddess of the future) and Egeria (goddess of wisdom). Egeria was the wife of Numa Pompilius and according to Titus Livius they met at this spring: according to another tradition they met at Ninfeo di Egeria, a fountain next to a sacred wood, not far from Via Appia.
The fountain and the sacred wood lost their charm with the growth of Rome; at the end of the Ist century AD, the writer Juvenal described the site with these words: But while all his goods and chattels were being packed upon a single wagon, my friend halted at the dripping archway of the old Porta Capena. Here Numa held his nightly assignations with his mistress; but now the holy fount and grove and shrine are let out to Jews, who possess a basket and a truss of hay for all their furnishings. For as every tree nowadays has to pay toll to the people, the Muses have been ejected, and the wood has to go a-begging. We go down to the Valley of Egeria, and into the caves so unlike to nature: how much more near to us would be the spirit of the fountain if its waters were fringed by a green border of grass, and there were no marble to outrage the native tufa! (Juvenal - Satire III - Edition and translation by G. G. Ramsay).
Valle delle Camene is a flat land comprised of an area between the Caelian and the Aventine hills; local springs and a brook coming from Porta Metronia required a careful maintenance of Cloaca Maxima, the system of sewers designed by the ancient Romans to avoid floods. This occurred until the Greek-Gothic War; after that period Valle delle Camene became marshy and very unhealthy in summer.
Valle delle Camene was immediately outside the Republican walls of Rome; what is left of them is buried because over the centuries floods raised the level of the ground: some modern inscriptions (ASSE DELLE MURA SERVIANE) indicate their location and Piazza di Porta Capena, the name given to a large square at the other end of Via delle Terme di Caracalla, is a reminder of the gate mentioned by Juvenal (Capena after Capua, an important town near Naples); he said the gate was dripping because that stretch of the wall was used to support an aqueduct bringing water to the Palatine Hill. Pope Pius VII was very precise in establishing the discount (100 days) granted in Purgatory to those who preached in front of a sacred image placed on an external wall of Villa Mattei along Valle delle Camene. The cultivated jogger will surely admire the elegant 1478 lintel on the side entrance of S. Sisto Vecchio; he is likely to be puzzled by the word "Tirasonensis" and probably he will run home to go through his books searching for its meaning. As a matter of fact Cardinal Pedro Ferrici y Comentano was making reference to Tarragona, a historical town in Catalonia (Spain). The appropriate Latin word to designate someone from Tarraco (as the town was called by the Romans) is Tarraconensis and Hispania Tarraconensis was the largest of the three Roman provinces in Iberia. The mistake is due to the loss of knowledge of Latin during the Middle Ages; the correct spelling of some words was forgotten.
Joggers at Valle delle Camene come next to a small casino of Villa Mattei which is now used for non-religious weddings. According to agreements between the Italian State and religious institutions, ceremonies which take place in a church (or a synagogue) are valid for the Italian authorities as long as mention is made of the Civil Code clauses regulating this matter. So usually the ceremonies which take place in this building involve people who are on their second marriage; weddings are unlikely to be grandiose, but still relatives and friends are happy to attend them to smile and wish the newly-weds well. Other Days of Peace pages: At the Flea Market At the Beach A Sunny Day in Villa Borghese Voicing Your Views ..... and feeling better La Festa de Noantri A visit to Roseto di Roma Christmas in Rome Finding Solace at the Protestant Cemetery Eating Outdoors Celebrating the Foundation of Rome Watching the Parade Attending 2007 July Events Rome's Sleepless Night Attending Winter Ceremonies Running the Rome Marathon Sailing on the River to see the Bridges of Roma An October Outing to Marino Attending a Funeral ...and enjoying it! A Special Spring Weekend Embassy-hunting in Parioli Celebrating Eritrean Michaelmas in Rome Visiting Rome at Dawn Visiting Rome in the Moonlight Visiting Rome on a Hop-on-Hop-off Bus Visiting Multi-ethnic Rome |
