Orte, Vasanello and Gallese (original) (raw)
You may wish to see a map of the region and a short introduction to this section first.
Orte
Orte is a small town known by almost all Italians, although very few of them have ever been there. This is because in the XIXth century the name of the town was given to the junction between the railway line linking Rome with Florence and that linking Rome with Ancona and Perugia (via Spoleto and Assisi). Almost all trains stopped at this junction and travellers thought that the few buildings outside the station constituted the town of Orte. A popular joke on an 1867 motto by Giuseppe Garibaldi O Roma o Morte! (either Rome or Death!) added to the celebrity of the town: the motto was turned into O Roma o Orte! (either Rome or Orte!).
Views of Orte
Orte is located a few miles from the railway junction on an isolated rock overlooking the River Tiber, before it is joined by the River Nera which significantly increases its flow. The cliffs which surround the town on almost all sides made it easily defensible without the construction of long walls.
(left) View northwards showing the ruins of a bridge; (righ) view westwards across the deep ravine which separates Orte from the volcanic plateau where all the other towns of this section are situated; the image shows SS. Trinit�, a small church which is cut into the rock
Via Flaminia was the main road which linked Rome to Umbria and the northern Adriatic Sea. It entered the valley of the Nera south of Orte and it crossed that river at Narni on a bridge built by Emperor Augustus.
Via Amerina was a minor road which followed the valley of the Tiber and reached Ameria (today's Amelia in Umbria). The Romans built a bridge on the Tiber immediately north of Orte which was known as Ponte di Augusto, although it was built at an earlier time. The bridge became the emblem of Orte and it can be seen in the image used as background for this page.
The Roman bridge (or its medieval reconstruction according to some sources) collapsed in the early XVIth century and it was never rebuilt because towards the end of that century [Pope Sixtus V](Storia23.html#Sixtus V) built Ponte Felice, a new bridge near Civita Castellana, ten miles south of Orte.
(left) Ancient columns; (centre) fragments of ancient statues; (right) medieval memories
The history of Orte starts with the Etruscans and its importance grew during the Roman rule when it was crossed by Via Amerina, but the town retains only a few columns and some reliefs on the walls of its houses from that period. A relief showing the foot of a hunter next to a dog is called _Pi� di Marmo_and it gives the name to a street, similar to what happened in Rome for a [a gigantic foot of a goddess](Vasi162.htm#Pi� di Marmo).
Medieval buildings: (left) Porta del Vascellaro, because pottery workshops making vases were located nearby; (centre) Porta di S. Cesareo; (right) Casa delle Colonne (the upper part is modern)
Similar to Sutri, Orte was donated by the Longobard kings to the popes in the VIIIth century. At that time Rome was ruled by a Byzantine governor who reported to the Exarch of Ravenna, a sort of proconsul, who in theory had jurisdiction over the whole of Italy. Because the Longobards controlled Via Flaminia, Orte and Via Amerina acquired great importance because they allowed direct communication between Rome and Ravenna, the so called "Byzantine corridor".
Eventually the bridge of Orte became the only stone bridge across the Tiber north of Rome and this helped the economy of the medieval town.
S. Silvestro
Most of the medieval churches of Orte, including the cathedral, were redesigned in the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries. At S. Silvestro the additions/modifications were removed as much as possible to bring the church back to its original shape which included a (lost) small porch. According to an inscription S. Silvestro was built in 1141 and in addition to being a church it was the site where duties were collected.
(above) Symbols of the popes and of Orte in the Town Hall; (below - left to right) coat of arms of Pope Nicholas V at Porta del Vascellaro; coats of arms in the Town Hall: [Pope Clement VII Medici](Storia20.html#Clement VII), Pope Paul III Farnese and Cardinal Ferdinando Nuzzo, a benefactor of Orte in the early XVIIIth century
Similar to many other towns of the region, medieval Orte acquired a degree of self-government which came to an end when the popes returned from Avignon. Cardinal Gil de Albornoz built a fortress at the northern entrance to the town for the papal governor and his garrison. In 1417 Pope Martin V assigned Orte to his nephew Antonio Colonna who treated the inhabitants without respect for their rights. After the Pope's death in 1431 a revolt forced Antonio Colonna to flee and the fortress was razed to the ground and never rebuilt.
Apart from this episode Orte was peacefully ruled by papal envoys.
Renaissance portals of two Alberti palaces
Five Renaissance palaces of Orte show the same coat of arms. It belongs to the Alberti, a Florentine family of wool merchants: in the XIVth century they opened a branch of their business at Orte and in the XVIth century they built five palaces, all showing a simple and neat design, typical of Florentine architecture.
(left) Arches of the aqueduct; (right) underground fountain in the main square of Orte
In 1685 an aqueduct was built to carry water to Orte. Because of the height of the rock platform upon which the town is situated the conduit reached the main square several feet below street level so that the public fountain had to be built underground.
XVIIIth century memories: (left) Monument to Cardinal Ferdinando Nuzzo in S. Francesco (previously in the Cathedral of Orvieto); (centre) altar in S. Croce with fake marbles; (right) 1712 gravestone in S. Pietro resembling a medieval one
After the collapse of the bridge on the Tiber and the construction of Ponte Felice, Orte lost most of its importance and it slid into obscurity until the railway revived it in the XIXth century. When Ferdinando Nuzzo (or Nuzzi), a native of Orte, was created cardinal in 1715 by [Pope Clement XI](Storia26.html#Clement XI), the town experienced a short period during which some embellishments were made. The Cardinal's funerary monument was most likely commissioned to an important Roman sculptor. You may wish to see other monuments where the dead is portrayed in the act of praying.
Vasanello
(left) S. Maria Assunta; (right-above) ancient altar; (right-below) [Cosmati](Glossar2.html#Cosmati work) mosaic, a capital decorated with crucifixes and a Renaissance baptismal font
Vasanello is a small town, five miles south of Orte, on the ancient Via Amerina. Its name derives from workshops making vases. S. Maria Assunta was built upon a Roman temple in the XIth century. Its bell tower was part of the walls which protected the small settlement which did not have natural defences. The church retains some interesting memories of its past.
Chiesa del Salvatore and its bell tower with an ancient funerary relief
In the XIIIth century the inhabitants of Vasanello built a very tall Romanesque bell tower by using the white stones of Via Amerina. According to tradition it was built above an ancient Etruscan mausoleum. A Roman funerary relief was walled on the bell tower, similar to what was done at nearby Bomarzo.
The church is older than its bell tower and in the interior it retains a 1038 inscription where Vasanello is mentioned for the first time.
Castello Orsini
In 1489 Orsino Orsini, Duke of Vasanello (or Bassanello as it was called at the time) married Giulia Farnese, a beautiful young woman who shortly after her marriage (or perhaps even before) became the mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (from 1492 Pope Alexander VI). Giulia Farnese ensured her husband had some compensation for his silent tolerance of her affaire and she favoured the ecclesiastical career of her brother Alessandro, the future Pope Paul III. She lost her husband in 1500 and her lover in 1503. At that point she thought it wise to establish good relations with the new pope (Julius II Della Rovere) and in 1505 she arranged the marriage of Laura, her only daughter, to Nicol� Della Rovere, nephew of the Pope, who became the new duke of Vasanello.
(left) Gate of the castle with the coat of arms of the Della Rovere; (right) detail of a fresco in Cappella di S. Lanno
Eventually the fiefdom of Vasanello was acquired by the Colonna di Palestrina and after them by the Barberini and by the Sciarra Colonna. After the financial default of Prince Maffeo Sciarra Colonna the castle of Vasanello ended up in the hands of a bank. In 1907 it was bought by Mons. Luigi Misciattelli, a very rich prelate, whose family still owns it.
Saint Lanno (or Lando) is the patron saint of Vasanello. According to tradition he was a German soldier serving Co-emperor Maximian. In 294 he became a Christian and eventually he was put to death at Vasanello. A fresco in a small chapel portrays him as a Renaissance knight.
Gallese
View of Gallese
Gallese is beautifully situated on a rock at the junction of two ravines. Canon Nardoni has written a work to prove that this is the Equum Faliscum, mentioned by Strabo, Virgil, and Silius. It contains some obscure Roman remains, and there are many Etruscan tombs in the neighbouring valleys. Gallese was early the seat of a bishopric.
Augustus J. C. Hare - Days Near Rome - 1875.
The Falisci had their major centre at Falerium, (Civita Castellana), a few miles south of Gallese. You may wish to see some of their terracotta statues at Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia.
(left) Fortifications of the town; (right) Porta di Citt�
The imposing fortifications which currently protect the small town were built in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries, but they replace previous walls which were most likely first built in the VIIIth century, after Pope Gregory III acquired the town from the Longobard Duchy of Spoleto in 738. Castellum Galliseum ensured a better control of the "Byzantine corridor". The fortified town acquired such an importance that in 826 it became a bishopric see and two popes of the IXth century belonged to local families.
San Famiano
St. Famian died at Gallese in 1150 and was buried in a cave outside the walls. He was a Cistercian monk and hermit from Cologne who made pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and Rome, and stopped in Gallese on his way back to his monastery in Spain after having taken part in the Second Crusade. Famian was not his original name, but that which was given to him because of the fame of the miracles which occurred at his burial site. He was canonized soon after his death and Gallese attracted many pilgrims. The current church which houses his relics was built in the XVIth century.
(left) A medieval tower; (centre) Palazzo Massa (Renaissance); (right) modernized historical buildings
The bishopric see of Gallese was incorporated into that of Civita Castellana in ca. 1285. The change had a major negative impact on the economy of the town which however could benefit from the trade between its harbour on the Tiber (which is two miles away) and Viterbo, via Vasanello. The medieval period is noticeable in a maze of narrow streets which end on the edge of the ravines because the town had just one gate (Porta di Citt�), similar to Bagnoregio.
Coats of arms in the town
The town retains a very high number of coats of arms which indicates that Gallese, notwithstanding its small size, had a local nobility. It is difficult to exactly identify the families to whom they belonged, but that showing an oak is no doubt evidence that the building belonged to the Della Rovere, the family of Popes Sixtus IV and Julius II.
Palazzo Ducale: (left) old entrance via a drawbridge with a Della Rovere coat of arms; (right) three coats of arms of popes, one of an Altemps Duke of Gallese and one of a bishop
The western part of the town which was not protected by a ravine was fortified with a castle which at the end of the XVIth century was turned into a state-of-the-art fortress having an elaborate palace inside. The old entrance is decorated with coats of arms of very important popes: Gregory XI and Martin V Colonna; the former returned to Rome from Avignon in 1377, the latter was elected in 1417 to end the Great Schism.
(left) Early XVIth century fountain; (right) coats of arms of the Papacy, Spinelli, Borgia (above), Orsini, Colonna and Della Rovere (below)
It is puzzling to see on the same monument the coats of arms of the Orsini and of the Colonna as well as those of the Borgia and of the Della Rovere because these families were fierce enemies, but the purpose of the decoration was to provide a summary of the lords of Gallese in ca 1350-1510. The Spinelli were an important family from Naples who owned Gallese during the XIVth century.
Palazzo Ducale: (left) fortified side; (right) road leading to the entrance to the town
In 1560 Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, Prince-Bishop of Trento acquired Gallese and nearby Soriano. He soon undertook the strengthening of the local fortifications and the construction of residences appropriate to his rank. He passed away in 1578 and in 1579 his nephew Fortunato sold Gallese to Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps, a nephew of [Pope Pius IV](Storia22.html#Pius IV). In April 1585 Cardinal Altemps favoured the election of Pope Sixtus V and in that same year the Pope raised the fiefdom of Gallese to the rank of Duchy. Roberto Altemps, the young natural son of the Cardinal became the first Duke of Gallese.
(left) Palazzo Ducale; (right) coat of arms (ca 1636) of Giovanni Pietro Altemps and Isabella Lante della Rovere, his wife
Roberto Altemps could enjoy his dukedom only for a short period because in November 1586 he was executed by order of the Pope for having raped a young girl (learn more about this event). The title passed to his infant son Giovanni Angelo and then to his grandson Giovanni Pietro. The heraldic symbol of the Altemps was a rampant male goat which can still be seen on some of their former properties, e.g. Palazzo Altemps, Palazzo Rospigliosi and Palazzetto Altemps.
Palazzo Ducale: main courtyard
The design of the palace inside the fortress is believed to be based on plans drawn by il Vignola who completed Palazzo Farnese di Caprarola. A long inscription indicates that the fountain at the centre of the courtyard was completed in 1655, perhaps in honour of [Queen Christina of Sweden](Storia25.html#Alexander VII) who stopped at Gallese on her way to Rome.
Palazzo Ducale: gardens
In 1850 Lucrezia Altemps, cousin and widow of Marco Aniceto Altemps, Duke of Gallese, married Jules Hardouin, an officer of the French expeditionary corps in Rome. After the death of the only child of Marco Aniceto Altemps, Pope Pius IX agreed to transfer the title of Duke of Gallese to Jules Hardouin. Shortly after Lucrezia Altemps passed away and Jules Hardouin remarried and had children. Their heirs are still the owners of the palace which retains a section of the original gardens.
