L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano FRANCESCA GRAZIANO Volcanic lakes, tufa badlands and ancient baths: the Roman Tuscia A ncient and of immense interest is the history of Roman Tuscia, also know as Alto Lazio. Its natural charac- teristics make of it a very pecu- liar landscape. Our tour may start from the Etruscan Baths in the Bulicame park, near Viterbo, even just for the Dantean citation "quale del bulicame esce ruscello," or because Michelangelo had sketched them, or simply because this little white calcareous hill, from which sulfurous water springs out at 58 degree Celsius, is the most famous of the area. You'll always find someone immersed to the neck into the park's natural pool, where the water is moved around by car- bonic and sulfurous gases, a water that, at its springs, boils like that in a pan. They're known as the Popes' Baths, because they were, historically, a favored des- tination of many a Pontiff: Gregory IX was here in 1235, Boniface IX in 1404, Nicholas V in 1450. Today, a modern spa and many hotels, the most renowned being the Niccolò V, have been developed in the very same place where, once upon a time, magnificent papal resi- dences stood. After this unmissable stop at the Baths, we can move towards the Volsini mountains, crowned by Montefiascone, located on a beautiful panoramic position, on the lake of Bolsena. Because of its dominant geographic position, a suggestive hypothesis wants it to be the mythical Fanum Voltumniae, neuralgic center of the Etruscan civilization, espe- cially. The Fanum was the place where the powerful Lucumones would gather to pray, discuss and decide on war strategies. Part of the Church's territorial posses- sions for centuries, Montefiascone, one of the area's main points of interest, still maintains today, especially in its higher part around the papal fortress, a sense of severity and heaviness. Here, Cardinal Albornoz sojourned in 1353, when the fortress had become the most efficient and formidable operational center of the Pontifical Army. Others resided here, too: pope Urban V, while returning from his exile in Avignon, but also Pius II Piccolomini, Julius II, Leo X and Paul III Farnese. A door leads into the ancient historical center, where the San Flaviano church stands, curious architectural jewel: its body is formed by two churches one upon the other, romanic the infe- rior, gothic and similar to a large matroneum the one above. On its internal walls are 14th century frescoes, and columns and pil- lars sustain its original structure. Alta (or high) Tuscia had been also a land of brigands and their deeds became legend. Domenico Tiburzi is the most famous because, just like Robin Hood, he would steal to the rich to give to the poor. You can, today, walk on the paths of the brigands, through beautiful areas of historical and naturalistic interest (www.altatuscia.vt.it). Once back on the car, and after having visited Civita and Bagnoregio, with an obliged stop in Sant'Agostino Square to admire the monument to Saint Bonaventure by Cesare Aureli, it's time to head to Bolsena. The lake of Bolsena It's one of the largest volcanic lakes in the country, created through millennia by the contin- uous collapsing of the ground's surface, because of the intense seismic activity in the Volsini mountains. The yellow, stain- like marks of cultivated fields and the many rows of olive trees cannot dissipate the sense of melancholy exuded by this lake. Its dark, enigmatic waters are suddenly brightened by gloomy, barbaric flashes of poisons and murders: Bolsena brings to the mind family conspiracies, ghosts and legends where symbols and history intertwine. Just as it hap- pens in the figure of Amalasunta, the Ostrogoth queen trapped and killed by order of her cousin Teodatus on the smallest of the lake's islands, Martana. From here, and from the island Bisentina, one can enjoy beauti- ful views of the villages resting on the lake's shores: Capodimonte, Bolsena, Momtefiascone. Historical dwellings, church- es and miracles: in the cathedral of Santa Cristina, in Bolsena (once important stop for all the pilgrims following the Via Francigena to Rome), stands the marble stained by the blood that, during mass, had gushed from the holy bread in the hand of a bohemian priest. It is to honor this miracle, immortalized by Raffaello in the Room of Eliodore, in the Vatican, that the feast of the Corpus Domini was instituted by pope Urban IV. By another altar, visitors can see the basalt stone on which Saint Christine, thrown into the lake by her father because she had refused to deny her faith in Christ, floated upon the water. Her little foot prints are still visi- ble. Gradoli, not far from Bolsena, is the hometown of Aleatico, a well known fortified wine. The village is also popular for its beans, called Purgatory beans, which became part of its tradi- tion: since the 1600s, it's cus- tomary to prepare once a year a Purgatory Meal, where these beans are the main course. Not to be missed is also Palazzo Farnese, built following the design of Antonio Da Sangallo the Young. The castle of Capodimonte was also erected on the lake for Pier Luigi Farnese. The itinerary can end in Marta, an eel fishermen's village particularly appreciated by for- eign tourists. Civita di Bagnoregio, the dying city "La grande meteora" clings to a large spur of tufa which is slowly crumbling down. People come from all over the world to visit Civita di Bagnoregio, an island of golden red tufa, laying upon white clay. Because of heavy hydro-geological erosion (the average is of 7 cm every year), tufa here turns into cleaves and badlands. The phenomenon has transformed the landscape into something reminiscent of a dantean circle, with the earth slowly crumbling, as if con- sumed by a slow illness. The poet Bonaventura Tecchi, illustrious son of these lands, rendered the profound appeal of the borough better than anyone else. He writes: "I wouldn't have become a writer if I didn't live during my childhood in the Valley of Civita for some months, from September to November... There, I learned to love the melancholy of the tran- sient." A unique spot, alive and ghostly, bright and crepuscular at once: looking at Civita, clung yet fragile, the mind inevitably runs to considerations about Time and how it slowly annihilates people, their homes, their cities and their very civilizations. Yet, Civita still charms: it is today home to foreign painters and writers seeking inspiration, and some old fashioned gentle- man, with a couple of house- keepers tagging along, enchanted by the silence of Summer and trying to grasp the meaning of one last flash of a bright, yet uncontrollable, decadence. Stable residents are not many: mostly coffee shop and bed and breakfast owners -all with very evocative names, La locanda della Buona Ventura, La Corte della Maestà- and those working in the restaurants feeding the daily stream of tourists. And one must earn it, this marvelous, timeless meteor. It's not accessible to all: a single, narrow bridge, 300 meters long, joins it to the rest of the world. High above, stands Civita, with its surreal tuft of medieval hous- es. Farnese palace at Capodimonte, on Bolsena lake , Viterbo. © Laudibi | Dreamstime Open view of Civita di Bagnoreggio. © Marco Ledda | Dreamstime ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES

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