John Fort

A corner of Agro Romano

[This article first appeared in "Wanted in Rome" in September 2005]

Via Aurelia Km 32, right to Ceri/Bracciano, and after about 300 metres left towards Ceri. Handsome street signs all the way along declare this to be the Via Ceri and the traveller cannot go wrong. The road winds through pine woods, dells, hillocks and hummocks for some 8 Kms, until suddenly the little mediaeval borgo of Ceri rears up in front, impossible to miss, set high on top of a romantically castellated tufa rock. There are few parking places at the summit and it is perhaps advisable to take advantage of the large car park at the bottom and proceed on foot, under the imposing gate, up the narrow gorge cut deep through the tufa, under buildings arching across, into the minute borgo, past the strategically positioned bar and out into the picturesque main square. From various vantage points there are fine panoramas over the surrounding countryside, but to one side, directly in front of the sole Alimentari is the chief reason for coming here - the church of S. Felice II Papa (Pope 483-492). This building, with its vaguely eighteenth-century exterior, does not promise much, but the inside is wonderful; completely frescoed in the twelfth century, it must have once been spectacular and is still very beautiful. Today only one wall of these paintings survive, having been covered over long ago and rediscovered in 1980, but they are so vivid in colour and so full of detailed, lively action that they are a delight. The arrangement is panels, each depicting an individual episode, mostly from the Old Testament, but also from the life of S. Silvestro and other miscellaneous events, with explanatory captions (in Latin). The artist clearly had a liking for the monitory effect of serpents; they appear all over the place. Look for St George and the dragon (bottom far left), the expulsion from the garden of Eden (top near the middle) or the crossing of the Red Sea (far right). Also to be seen in the church are late fifteenth-century frescoes, notably a crucifixion scene, behind the first pillar to the right, the fine baldacchino dating to 1484 in the little chapel bottom right, the relics of S. Felice II high up on the left side of the nave, and, not least, the two expanses of very fine Cosmatesque floor, in the nave and in front of the apse. There are two trattorie in the borgo, both with terraces offering splendid vistas over the countryside and cucina casareccia.

Now on past Ceri for about 1 km, through stands of canes and holm-oaks, past a vineyard to a T-junction. Turn left, and after 1 Km right onto the Via Casetta Mattei. This winds uphill and down dale through rolling agricultural country exuding rural prosperity and peace, through I Terzi, to a crossroads. Straight across onto the Via Tragliatella, through Tragliatella, Ponton d'Elce, across the Via Casale di S.Angelo and onto the Bracciano road. Turn right and after Km 2.5, passing the Anguillara/Trevignano turning, right towards Fregene and the Via Aurelia. After Km 1.5 on the left appears the next destination, the really enchanting borgo of S. Maria di Galeria. The first quadrangle has six handsome lime trees round a fountain, and in one corner, completely engulfed by an enormous wisteria with a trunk like an oak, is a trattoria, again offering robust rustic cooking. In the corner of a second courtyard stands the church of S. Maria di Celsano, with interesting seventeenth-century paintings, but usually only open on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Back on the main road, turn left and, after about 200 metres, take a track through an iron gate to the right, between two large pines with the number 691 on them. This leads through a narrow cutting, shaded by holm-oaks, and after a few hundred metres to the silvery gate of a farmhouse on the left. From here proceed on foot, as the track rapidly deteriorates; taking the right fork, go up a slope and then on down, past the sign Monumento Naturale di Galeria. Ahead, rising from amongst the trees, appear the ruins of a tower, and then ramparts and walls; the impression is of a small-scale Lazio version of Mayan temple ruins as emerge from the jungles of Mexico. Follow the narrow path hacked through a thicket of brambles; at the fork, go left up past a colossal fig-tree, with a trunk worthy of any jungle giant, under a gate and then another gate, and into a magical deserted town. This once wealthy place, founded by the Etruscans, prospered for many centuries, but its last inhabitants, succumbing to malaria, finally abandoned the site at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The impressionable may find the site spooky, and certainly those who suffer from vertigo should avoid the precipice on the far side of the town, but the mysteriousness of the roofless rooms, the old church tower and the gloomy cellars, all under a thick canopy of holm-oaks, impart a delicious if slightly disturbing frisson. Ninfa must have been rather like this before the gardening members of the Caetani family realized its potential. Back at the fork, there is a track to the left which leads to the river, a landing a stage and a Roman bridge.

This outing will only take half a day. Those feeling energetic, having chosen or not to eat at Claudio in S. Maria di Galeria, can continue towards to the Aurelia and the beaches of Fregene and Maccarese, or else, doing the itinerary in reverse, eat at Ceri and proceed to the Etruscan sites of Cerveteri.