Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

You may wish to visit page one with an introduction to this section first.

Torrita Tiberina

View of Torrita Tiberina and the River Tiber from Nazzano (west)

TORITTA. A village of three hundred and twelve inhabitants, near the Tyber and Mount Soracte.
Sir William Gell - The topography of Rome and its vicinity - 1846 ed.
Torrita Tiberina is located on a ridge which is almost entirely surrounded by the River Tiber.

View from Torrita Tiberina towards the hills of Sabina

The Tyber with its numerous windings, is seen issuing from the woody hills beyond Magliano of Sabina, and its course may be clearly distinguished as it flows between the territories of the Capenates and the Sabines. Gell.
Here, where the Tiber divides the remnant of the Papal dominions from the new kingdom of Italy, I encountered the first detachment I had seen of Piedmontese soldiers. The river, flowing south, forms the boundary between Umbria and the Sabina. (..) Old Father Tiber winds charmingly through a spacious and glorious valley, the Sabine Mountains standing all round it; the gleaming white towns on their heights are now filled with Lombard and Piedmontese troops.
Ferdinand Gregorovius - An excursion through Sabina and Umbria in 1861 - Transl. by Dorothea Roberts
During 1861-1870 the Tiber marked the frontier between what was left of the Papal State and the Kingdom of Italy.

Historical part of Torrita seen from the east

Torrita owes its name to the medieval towers (It. torri) which protected its inhabitants in the then frequent clashes between rival Roman families, especially the Colonna and the Orsini and later on from brigands.

(left) Gate: (right) small palace

A simple gate is the only access to the town: a few steps along the only street lead to the main square. The small palace which served as the residence of the masters of Torrita, bears the coat of arms of the Torlonia, who bought it from the Melchiorri in the XIXth century, when they became the richest family of Rome.

(left) Tower near the gate; (centre) tower near S. Tommaso Apostolo; (right) walls

The historical part of Torrita is almost intact. The town has developed along the road leading to Nazzano where its cemetery is located. It houses the tomb of Aldo Moro, President of the Italian Government in 1963-1968 and in 1974-1976 who had a countryside residence at Torrita. He was killed by the Red Brigades in 1978.

(left) A Roman column in a street of the town; (centre/right) S. Tommaso Apostolo: Roman capitals and a Renaissance repository for the Holy Oil (see similar ones at S. Maria in Trastevere and Sutri)

The parish church was largely redesigned in the XXth century, but it retains some interesting works of art of its past including some Roman memories.

S. Tommaso Apostolo: (left) The Adoration of the Magi (Umbrian School); (right) very elaborate marble altar with a Nativity (school of Carlo Maratta)

Filacciano

First gate of the town

FlLACClANO. A village, in a pleasant situation, near the Tyber and Mount Soracte. It has 445 inhabitants. Gell
Filacciano has the same layout of the other towns of this section, but its appearance is very different due to a XVIIth century face-lift aimed at better organizing the farming activities of its inhabitants. S. Martino al Cimino and Oriolo are other examples of XVIIth century attempts to achieve this objective.

(left) Rear view of the gate; (right) the new part of the town

Two long and low buildings housed stables and small flats for the peasants. From an architectural viewpoint the buildings provided a double wing to the main palace built on the site of an old fortress, a very theatrical approach.

Houses which retains their original numbers above the door

Filacciano can be reached only by a road which branches off the main one and ends at the town. This has limited its modern development and as a consequence has preserved it almost as it was when it was enlarged and redesigned.

Palazzo del Drago; small piers with the moons of the Muti Papazzurri

Filacciano belonged to the Orsini and then to many other Roman families until in 1853 the fief of Filacciano was acquired by the del Drago. The main palace however is decorated with the heraldic symbol (a moon crescent) of the Muti Papazzurri who bought Filacciano in 1674 (the image used as a background for this page shows a coat of arms of a Cardinal Orsini in the rear part of the town gate).

Coats of arms of the Orsini and of the Muti Papazzurri: heraldic symbol of the Del Drago

The construction of the palace and the enlargement of the town were commissioned to Mattia de'Rossi who designed Palazzo Muti Papazzuri. He was the son of Marcantonio De Rossi who was involved in the redesign of S. Martino al Cimino and a young assistant to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whom he accompanied to Paris in 1665.

Via Filocastello, the only street of the medieval town

The Muti Papazzurri had in mind a major expansion of Filacciano, but a series of legal quarrels among the members of the family led to a decline of the town which was sold in 1810.

The River Tiber and Gavignano in Sabina seen from Filacciano (see also a view of Cantalupo)

Ponzano Romano

Ponzano seen from Sant'Oreste, a town on a shoulder of Monte Soratte

PONZANO. A small town of 710 inhabitants, situated in the pretty and well-wooded country between Mount Soracte and the Tyber. Gell
Ponzano is located at the foot of Monte Soratte, an isolated mountain which characterizes the landscape of the Tiber valley and which can be seen from Rome.

Palazzo Abbaziale and modern terrace

Ponzano has lost in part its medieval layout which was very similar to those of the nearby towns. There is no longer an entrance gate, but it still has a winding street leading to the parish church. Ponzano belonged for centuries to Abbazia di S. Paolo fuori le Mura.

Views from the terrace of Ponzano: (above) Monte Soratte with S. Oreste; (below) the hills of Sabina with the town of Stimigliano

The terrace near Palazzo Abbaziale enjoys a commanding view over both sides of the Tiber valley.

A flask-shaped winding section of the River Tiber seen the terrace of Ponzano

Of particular interest is a view of a flask-shaped winding section of the river. It is the result of initiatives to control the flow of water by a series of dams and canals in the XIXth and XXth centuries in order to prevent floods in the City of Rome.

(left) Palazzo Liberati (1670 coat of arms); (centre) main street; (right) a XVIth century building opposite S. Nicola di Bari, the parish church

The Liberati are a family from Parma who settled at Ponzano in the second half of the XVIth century most likely because they were protected by the Farnese who, in addition to being Dukes of Parma, had many fiefdoms in Northern Latium (e.g. the Duchy of Castro). Palazzo Liberati is not the only building of Ponzano which shows evidence of some wealth.

(left/centre) S. Nicola di Bari; (right) evidence of an old oratory in the southern part of the town

The church is rather small and it was redesigned in the XVIIIth century, but the stout bell tower, which makes the town easily identifiable from a distance, is dated late XIIIth century and initially it was most likely a defensive tower.

Churches outside Ponzano: (left) Sant'Andrea in Flumine; (right) S. Sebastiano

The remaining fortifications of Ponzano have little interest, but two churches in the immediate surroundings of the town are rather picturesque: Sant'Andrea in Flumine (river) is located very near the Tiber and retains an old fortified tower, turned into a bell tower at a later stage. S. Sebastiano is on the top of a hill overlooking the highway.

Move back to Fiano Romano, Civitella S. Paolo and Nazzano.