"From Albano we had to go on foot for the short and beautiful remainder of the way through Ariccia. Reseda and golden cistus grew wild by the road-side; the thick, juicy olive-trees cast a delicious shade. I caught a glimpse of the distant sea; and upon the mountain-slopes by the wayside, where a cross stood, merry girls skipped dancing past us, yet never forgetting piously to kiss the holy cross. The lofty dome of the church of Ariccia I imagined to be that of S. Peter, which the angels had hung up in the blue air among the dark olive-trees."-Improvisatore. H. C. Andersen. The ravine is now called Vallericcia, and was once a sheet of water called Lacus Aricinus. Near the road are some small remains supposed to be those of a temple of Diana. "The ceremonies of the temple of Aricia were, according to Strabo, barbaric and Scythian, like those of the Tauric Diana. The priest (Rex Nemorensis) was always a fugitive who had slain his predecessor, and always had in his hand a drawn sword, to defend himself from a similar fate. There was a tree near the temple, whence if a fugitive could approach and carry off a bough, he was entitled to the duel, or monomachia, with the Rex Nemorensis. 66 'A most curious basso-relievo was found in the neighbourhood some years ago, representing several personages, among whom is the priest, lately in possession, lying prostrate, with his entrails issuing from a Now at Palma in Majorca. wound, inflicted by his successor, who stands over him with his sword; there are also several females in long robes, in the Etruscan style, who seem to invoke the gods. This basso-relievo and the passage of Strabo seem to explain each other."-Sir W. Gell. Hippolytus or Urbius, the legendary founder of Ariccia, was joined with Diana in the worship of the inhabitants, and is commemorated with her by many of the Latin poets. "Jamque dies aderat ; profugis cum regibus altum "Nympha, mone, Nemori stagnoque operata Dianæ ; Est lacus, antiqua religione sacer. Hic jacet Hippolytus furiis direptus equorum," &c. Ovid. Fast. iii. 261. "Lucus eum, nemorisque tui Dictynna recessus 66 Ovid. Fast. vi. 755. nam conjux urbe relicta Vallis Aricine densis latet abdita sylvis: Sacraque Oresteæ gemitu questuque Dianæ Impedit. Ah quoties Nymphæ nemorisque lacusque, Ovid. Metam. xv. 487. "Ibat et Hippolyti proles pulcherrima bello, Virgil. En. vii. 761. "At Trivia Hippolytum secretis alma recondit Virgil. Æn. vii. 774. "Jam nemus Egeriæ, jam te ciet altus ab Alba 66 Val. Flac. Arg. ii. 304. ・ ・ quos miserat altis Egeriæ genitos immitis Aricia lucis, Ætatis mentisque pares; at non dabat ultra Sil. Ital. iv. 368. The steep ascent from Vallericcia to the town is also com memorated by the poets. "accedo Bovillas Clivumque ad Virbi: præsto est mihi Manlius hæres." Persius. Sat. vi. 56. "Irus tuorum temporum sequebaris. Martial. xii. Ep. 32. The steepness of the hill from the earliest times afforded great advantages to the beggars. "Dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes, Blandaque devexæ jactaret basia rhedæ." The rich country upon which we look down was as famous in ancient as in modern times for the produce of its vineyards. "Est mihi nonum superantis annum Plenus Albani cadus." Horace. Od. iv. II. "Hic herus, Albanum, Mæcenas, sive Falernum THE PALAZZO CHIGI. "Mittit præcipuos nemoralis Aricia porros." Martial. xiii. 16. 63 Some fragments of the ancient wall may be seen before entering the gate of Aricia with its forked Guelfic battlements. The city itself is of very ancient origin, being first mentioned in the story of Tarquinius Superbus, when Turnus Herdonius, its king, was drowned in the Aqua Ferentina. It was the birth place of Atia, mother of Augustus, and as such is extolled by Cicero in his third Philippic. Aricia was a station on the Via Appia : "Nous arrivons avec Horace à Lariccia. Là nous disons comme lui : 'Egressum magna me excepit Aricia Roma' (Sat. i., S. i.) enchantés de ces délicieux aspects dont Horace, moins occupé que nous ne le sommes du pittoresque, n'a point parlé. La ville moderne de Lariccia s'est perchée, comme il arrive souvent, dans la citadelle de la ville ancienne. M. Pierre Rosa, cet explorateur infatigable et sagace de la campagne romaine, et qui excelle à découvrir les ruines que son aïeul Salvator Rosa aimait à peindre, a cru retrouver les restes de la petite auberge (Sat. i., S. i.) où Horace a logé (hospicio modico), et même des vases contenant l'orge destinée aux montures des voyageurs."— Ampère, Emp. Rom. i. 365. Lariccia is now chiefly remarkable for the huge Palace of the Chigi family, built by Bernini for Alexander VII. It is noble and imposing in its proportions, as it rises on huge buttresses from the depths of the ravine. In the interior are some interesting rooms hung with exceedingly curious stamped leather, and a chamber containing portraits of the twelve nieces of Alexander VII., who were so enchanted at the elevation of their uncle, that they all took the veil immediately to please him. Apartments are let here in the summer months, and are very delightful. Opposite the palace is the beautifully proportioned Church of the Assumption, also built (1664) by Bernini, with a dome painted by Antonio Raggi, and a few very indifferent pictures. A fountain covered with mimulus stands in front of the portico. The palace and church form the beautiful group of Lariccia so well known from pictures. Between them the town is now entered from Albano by a grand viaduct, 700 feet long, whence the view is exquisitely lovely, on the left over the Campagna, on the right looking into the depths of the immemorial wood known as the Parco Chigi. "Le pont monumental remplit un profond ravin pour mettre de plain-pied la route d'Aricia à Albano. Il passe donc par-dessus tout un paysage vu en profondeur, et ce paysage est rempli par une forêt vierge jétée dans un abîme. Une forêt vierge fermée de murs, c'est là une de ces fantaisies que les princes peuvent seuls se passer. Il y a cinquante ans que la main de l'homme n'a abattu une branche et que son pied n'a tracé un sentier dans le forêt Chigi. Pourquoi? Chi lo sa? vous disent les indigènes. "Au reste, ce caprice-là, qui serait bien concevable de la part d'un propriétaire artiste, est une agréable surprise pour l'artiste qui passe. Sur les flancs du ravin s'echelonnent les têtes vénérables des vieux chênes soutenant dans leur robuste branchage les squelettes penchés de leurs voisins morts, qui tombent en poussière sous une mousse desséchée d'un blanc livide. La lierre court sur ces ruines végétales, et sous l'impénétrable abri de ces réseaux de verdure vigoureuse et de pâles ossements, un pêle-mêle de ronces, d'herbes, et de rochers va se baigner dans le ruisseau sans rivages practicables. Si l'on n'était sur une grande route, avec une ville derrière soi, on se croirait dans une forêt du nouveau monde."-George Sand, La Daniella. "It had been wild weather when I left Rome, and all across the Campagna the clouds were sweeping in sulphurous blue, with a clap of thunder or two, and breaking gleams of sun along the Claudian aqueduct, lighting up the infinity of its arches like the bridge of chaos. But as I climbed the long slope of the Alban Mount, the storm swept finally to the north, and the noble outline of the domes of Albano, and graceful darkness of its ilex grove, rose against pure streaks of alternate blue and amber; the upper sky gradually flushing through the last fragments of rain-cloud in deep, palpitating azure, half æther and half dew The noonday sun came slanting down the rocky slopes of La Riccia, |