The Caffarella Park ( it, Parco della Caffarella) is a large

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, protected from development. It is part of the ''Parco Regionale Appia Antica'' (

Appian Way Regional Park The Appian Way Regional Park is the second-largest urban park of Europe, after Losiny Ostrov National Park in Moscow. It is a protected area of around 4580 hectares, established by the Italian region of Latium. It falls primarily within t ...

). The park is contained in the Caffarella Valley and is bordered on its northern side by the

Via Latina The Via Latina (Latin for "Latin Road") was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers. Route It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mount Algidus; it was important in the ear ...

and on its southern by the

Appian Way The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is ...

. It stretches from the main Rome-Pisa railroad tracks near the Aurelian Wall at its western edge to the Via dell'Almone to the east. It contains several sites of

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

interest, as well as a working farm, and has considerable

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

value, with 78 species of birds and fauna. The

Catacombs of Rome The Catacombs of Rome ( it, Catacombe di Roma) are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either i ...

and

Colli Albani (Rome Metro) Colli Albani is a station on the Rome Metro. It is on Line A and is located in Largo dei Colli Albani The Alban Hills ( it, Colli Albani) are the caldera remains of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about ...

are nearby.

History

In Roman times much of the area was occupied by a large estate known as the ''Triopius''.

Herodes Atticus Herodes Atticus ( grc-gre, Ἡρώδης; AD 101–177) was an Athenian rhetorician, as well as a Roman senator. A great philanthropic magnate, he and his wife Appia Annia Regilla, for whose murder he was potentially responsible, commissioned ...

was a Greek who became a Roman senator. Through his marriage to

Annia Regilla Appia Annia Regilla, full name Appia Annia Regilla Atilia Caucidia TertullaPomeroy, ''The murder of Regilla: a case of domestic violence in antiquity'' (Greek: , 125–160), was a wealthy, aristocratic and influential Roman woman, who was a dista ...

, he acquired the land of the estate that stretched from the Caffarella Park to the Appian Way. Two ruins in the park date from that time: the tomb of Annia Regilla and the

Nympheum A ''nymphaeum'' or ''nymphaion'' ( grc, νυμφαῖον), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habi ...

of Egeria. Several towers in the park are medieval and served mainly as watch towers. The modern name of the park comes from the Caffarelli family, which operated a farm in the area in the 16th century. It was subsequently owned by the

Pallavicini family The House of Pallavicini, also known as Pallavicino and formerly known as Pelavicino, is an ancient Italian noble family founded by Oberto II ''Pelavicino'' of the Frankish Obertenghi family. The Pallavicini of Genoa The first recorded member o ...

and the Torlonias. In the mid-20th century the area was in major danger of being used for urban expansion, but it was protected and then incorporated into the Appian Way park following popular campaigns for its preservation."The Caffarella Valley". Pamphlet produced by the Parco Regionale dell'Appia Antica

Major features

*The Nympheum of Egeria. This spring and the surrounding construction can be dated back to the middle of the 2nd century AD by reference to the types of bricks used in its construction. The water springs from the rear of the nympheum under a now-headless reclining statue of the god

Almo Almo may refer to: * Almo (god), a river deity from Roman mythology * Almo, the ancient name for the River Almone near Rome (whence the name of the above deity) *Almo, Idaho, a town in the United States *Almo, Kentucky, a town in the United States ...

(a personification of the River

Almone The Almone (Latin: ''Almo'') is a small river of the Ager Romanus, a few miles south of the city of Rome. Today the river is polluted and is channelled to a sewage treatment plant and no longer reaches its natural confluence with the Tiber. Name T ...

)."The Water Trail". Pamphlet produced by the Parco Regionale dell'Appia Antica. The Nympheum was constructed by Herodes Atticus after he was cleared of the murder of Annia Regilla. It is mentioned by

Valerius Antias Valerius Antias ( century BC) was an ancient Roman annalist whom Livy mentions as a source. No complete works of his survive but from the sixty-five fragments said to be his in the works of other authors it has been deduced that he wrote a chroni ...

*Tomb of Annia Regilla. This well-preserved building is also known as the Temple of the God

Rediculus Rediculus is an ancient Roman divinity. His cult had a temple near the Porta Capena, and a ''campus'' on the Appian Way. Origins and nature This divinity is probably one of Rome's ''lares'', a protector-god of the city. He is said to have appear ...

, as scholars erroneously believed that its temple-like appearance meant that it had been built in honour of Rediculus, the god that Romans honoured at the beginning and end of each journey. Designed as a sepulchre, it is not certain that it is the tomb of Annia Regilla. The construction is of red and yellow brick and there are two floors, with significant remaining external decoration.''Guide ai servizi delle aree naturalii protette del Lazio'': Parco Regionale Appia Antica. Regione Lazio, 2009 In the Middle Ages, it served as a hay loft for a neighbouring farmhouse. *Valca Tower. This building is constructed from rectangular blocks of

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

and dates back to the 12th or 13th century. It was protected by a first wall of defence and a drawbridge. The tower is believed to have been part of a

fulling Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

mill.

*Roman cistern. Constructed around 100 AD and originally underground, this

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

was exposed when earth moving was carried out for the construction of the nearby

Circus of Maxentius The Circus of Maxentius (known until the 19th century as the Circus of Caracalla) is an ancient structure in Rome, Italy, part of a complex of buildings erected by emperor Maxentius on the Via Appia between AD 306 and 312. It is situated between ...

. *Columbarium of Constantine. This

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "'' colu ...

, a building for housing the ashes of the deceased, dates back to the 2nd century AD. During the Middle Ages it was converted into a mill. *The Sacred Wood is a spot on a hill overlooking the valley and with good views of the mountains surrounding Rome and the

Castelli Romani The so-called Roman Castles (''Castelli Romani'' in Italian) are a group of ''comunes'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome. They are located a short distance south-east of the city of Rome, at the feet of the Alban Hills, in the territory corresp ...

. According to tradition, this is the spot at which Herodes Atticus ordered a sacred wood to be planted. Colombario costantiniano - Caffarella

* Church of Sant'Urbano alla Caffarella. A 7th-century church built over a 2nd-century pagan temple.

References

External links

*
La Valle della Caffarella
on

website
Flickr
Wildlife set {{Authority control Caffarella, Park of the Rome Q. IX Appio-Latino

History

Major features

See also

References

External links