CHAPTER XII.

TIVOLI.

(This, 18 miles distant, is the most attractive of all the places in the immediate neighbourhood of Rome, and the one excursion which no one should omit, even if they are only at Rome for a week. A carriage with two horses ought not to cost more than 25 francs for the day. The Villa Adriana may be visited on the way: then the Temple of the Sibyl, the Cascades, the view of the Cascatelle from the opposite side of the valley, and last of all the Villa d'Este. Those who are not strong enough for the whole should see the view of the Cascatelle and the Villa d'Este. The round which Tivoli guides and donkey-men take strangers, through the woods and underneath the waterfalls, is very long and fatiguing. There are two hotels at Tivoli, la Regina (in the town), which is comfortable, clean, and well-furnished, but where it is necessary to come to a very strict agreement as to prices on arriving, and La Sibylla, far humbler, but not uncomfortable, and in the most glorious situation. In the former, guests are received en pension at 8 francs; at the latter, at 6 francs a day. Those who stay long will find endless points of interest both in the place itself and the excursions which may be made from it. Visitors who are pressed for time may omit the Villa Adriana, but on no account the Villa d'Este.)

HE road to Tivoli follows the ancient Via Tiburtina for

THE

the greater part of its course, and leads through one of the most desolate and least interesting parts of the Campagna. Issuing from the Porta S. Lorenzo, we pass the great basilica of the same name, and descending into the valley of the Anio, cross the river by a modern bridge, near the ancient Ponte Mammolo, which took its name (Pons Mammæus) from Mammæa, mother of Alexander Severus.

The little river Teverone, or Anio, in which Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, exchanged her earthly life for that of a goddess, adds greatly to the charm of the Campagna. It rises near Treba in the Simbrivian hills, and flows through the gorges of Subiaco and the country of the Equians till it forms the glorious falls of Tivoli. After this stormy beginning it assumes a most peaceful character, gliding gently between deep banks, and usually marked along the brown reaches of the burnt-up Campagna by its fringe of green willows. Silius calls it "sulphureus," from the sulphuretted hydrogen which is poured into it by the springs of Albula.

"Sulphureus gelidus qua serpit leniter undis

Ad genitorem Anio labens sine murmure Tybrim."
Sil. Ital. xii. 539.

On its way through the plain a whole succession of historical brooks pour their waters into the Anio. Of these, the most remarkable, as we ascend it, are (on the left) the torrent Le Molette (the Ulmanus), the Magliano, the Tutia, and the Albula; and (on the right) the Marrana, and the Osa which flows beneath the walls of Collatia. Nibby says that "anciently the Anio was navigable from the Ponte Lucano to its mouth." Strabo mentions "that the blocks of travertine from the quarries near Tibur, and of Lapis Gabina from Gabii, were brought to Rome by means of it. But in the dark ages the channel was neglected, and the navigation interrupted and abandoned."

When we reach the dismal farm-buildings, which encircle the Osteria del Fornaccio, the caves of Cervara and the medieval towers of Rustica and Cervara are visible at no great distance, rising above the Campagna on the opposite

bank of the Anio. Nothing more is to be seen, except, here
and there, the pavement of the ancient road, till we pass, on
the left, the ruins of the mediæval Castel Arcione. Across
the Campagna, on the left, near the Sabine mountains, the pic-
turesque little hills called Montes Corniculani may be seen,
their three summits occupied by the villages of St. Angelo,
Colle Cesi, and Monticelli; on the right we overlook the
distant sites of Collatia and Gabii, with many other cities of
the plain, whose exact positions are unknown. After cross-
ing the brook Tuzia, the ancient Tutia on whose banks
Hannibal encamped,* and leaving to the left the now drained
Lago de' Tartari, a terrible smell of sulphur announces the
neighbourhood, about a mile distant on the left, of the lakes
of the Solfatara, the Aqua Albulæ, from which a canal, cut
in 1549 by Cardinal d'Este, to take the place of the ancient
Albula, carries their rushing milk-white waters under the
road towards the Anio. Here, near "the hoary Albula," was
the hallowed grove of the Muses mentioned by Martial :—
"Itur ad Herculei gelidas qua Tiburis arces,
Canaque sulphureis Albula fumat aquis,

Rura, nemusque sacrum, dilectaque jugera musis
Signat vicina quartus ab urbe lapis."

I. Ep. 13.

There are now three lakes. On the largest, the Lago delle Isole Natanti, are some floating islands formed by matted weeds. The ruins near it, called Bagni della Regina, are supposed to have been the baths of Queen Zenobia during her semi-captivity at Tibur. The two smaller lakes have the names of Lago di S. Giovanni and Lago delle Colonelle. There is no reason for supposing the temple of Faunus (Æn. vii.), which is spoken of by Murray as if it were here, to Livy, xxvi. 10.

have been in this neighbourhood. It was more probably at La Solfatara in the great Laurentine wood sacred to Picus and Faunus. Thither, and not hither, the king of Laurentum would naturally go to consult the oracle.*

"Sir Humphrey Davy made some carious experiments on the process by which the water in these lakes continually adds to the rocks around, by petrifaction or incrustation. He says, that the water taken from the most tranquil part of the lake, even after being agitated and exposed to the air, contained in solution more than its own volume of carbonic acid gas, with a very small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen. The temperature is 80 degrees of Fahrenheit. It is peculiarly fitted to afford nourishment to vegetable life. Its banks of Travertino are everywhere covered with reeds, lichen, confervæ, and various kinds of aquatic vegetables; and at the same time that the process of vegetable life is going on, crystallizations of the calcareous matter are everywhere formed, in consequence of the escape of the carbonic acid of the water.

"In the line between the bridge and the Solfatara, the rocky crust was broken in on the left near the stream, in the year 1825, and a portion of the water was lost; and another stream, called Acqua Acetosa, falls into a hole on the right: these instances show that the crust is but thin in some places. It probably covers an unfathomable abyss; for a stone thrown into the lake, occasions in its descent so violent a discharge of carbonic acid gas, and for so long a time, as to give the idea of an immense depth of water. The taste is acid, and the sulphureous smell so strong, that when the wind assists, it has sometimes been perceived in the higher parts of Rome."-Gell.

Two miles beyond the canal is the Ponte Lucano, well known by engravings from the beautiful picture by G. Poussin in the Doria Palace. Close beyond the bridge rises, embattled into a tower by Pius II., the massive round tomb of the Plautii, built by M. Plautius Silvanus in B.C. I, and long used by his descendants. At Barco, near this, were the principal quarries for the Travertino used in the buildings of ancient Rome.

But two inscriptions have been found which show that there was once a temple of Cybele here, and that the waters themselves were honoured as "Aquæ Albulæ Sanctissima."

About half a mile beyond the bridge a lane to the left leads to the gates of the Villa Adriana, which is said once to have been from 8 to 10 miles in extent. It is believed to have been ruined during the siege of Tibur by Totila. The chief interest of the ruins arises from their vast extent, and from the lovely carpet of the shrubs and flowers, with which Nature has surrounded them. In spring nothing can exceed the beauty of the violets and anemonies here.* Successive generations of antiquaries have occupied themselves with the nomenclature of the different masses of ruin, and they always disagree: most travellers will consider such discussions of little consequence, and, finding them exceedingly fatiguing, will rest satisfied in the knowledge that the so-called villa was once a most stupendous conglomeration of unnecessary buildings, and in the joyful contemplation of its present loveliness.

"I went down to Adrian's villa with exalted ideas of its extent, variety, and magnificence. On approaching it, I saw ruins overgrown with trees and bushes; I saw mixt-reticular walls stretching along the side of a hill, in all the confusion of a demolished town; but I saw no grandeur of elevation, no correspondence in the parts. I went on. The extent and its variety opened before me-baths, academies, porticos, a library, a palestra, a hippodrome, a menagerie, a naumachia, an aqueduct, theatres both Greek and Latin, temples for different rites, and every appurtenance suitable to an imperial seat. But its magnificence is gone : it is removed to the Vatican, it is scattered over Italy, it may be traced in France. Anywhere but at Tivoli you may look for the statues and caryatides, the columns, the oriental marbles, and the mosaics, with which the villa was once adorned, or supported, or wainscoted, or floored."-Forsyth.

"The drive was less beautiful than most of those which lie round Rome. Thus two hours and a half went by, dully; and I was not sorry when, turning aside from the castellated tomb of the Plautii family,

Since this account was written (1873) the destroying hand of Signor Rosa has been here, the flowers are all rooted up, the ruins stripped of their creepers, and of the fringes of lovely shrubs which gave them all their charm; and, for the present, the Villa Adriana-a mass of bare walls in a naked country-is little worth visiting—