Sabina, the Land of the Romans' Wives: Magliano (original) (raw)

Magliano Sabina (detail of a mural painting in Montopoli)

If you came directly to this page you may wish to read an introduction to this section with a map first.

## Views from the western end of Magliano: (above) River Tiber Valley towards Orte; (below) Mount Soratte

(From Florence to Rome) 144 M. Orte. The train descends the valley of the Tiber on the right bank, affording pleasant glimpses of both banks. To the right, the lofty and indented ridge of Mount Soracte becomes visible. On the left, on the other side of the river, lie S. Vito and Otricoli. (..) 150 M. Gallese. Farther on, high above the left bank, is the small town of Magliano. 152 M. Borghetto, with a ruined castle on the height to the right. The Tiber is crossed by the handsome Ponte Felice, constructed by Augustus, and restored in 1589 by [Sixtus V.](Storia23.html#Sixtus V), over which most of the traffic between Rome and the N.E. provinces formerly passed. Karl Baedeker - Italy; Handbook for travellers - 1883

## View towards Umbria from the eastern end of the town

Upon leaving Narni you enter into a Road from rough and stony road among mountains for about Narni to eight miles till the Via Flaminia shews itself in several places. (..) You continue your way through the plain, and soon after you arrive up on the banks of the "Caelo gratissimus amnis"(*), the famous river Tiber. About three miles from Civita Castellana, you come through the village of Borghetto situated on a little hill, where you pass over the Tiber upon a stately bridge, raised, as appears by the inscription, by Sixtus V and [Clement VIII](Storia23.html#Clement VIII) out of the ruins of a magnificent bridge built here by Augustus, by which the Via Flaminia was continued. Thomas Nugent - The Grand Tour - 1749

| (*) _Ego sum pleno quem flumine cernisstringentem ripas et pinguia culta secantem,caeruleus Thybris, caelo gratissimus amnis.hic mihi magna domus, celsis caput urbibus exit._Virgil - Aeneid - Book 8 | I am the copious floodwhich thou beholdest chafing at yon shoresand parting fruitful fields: cerulean streamof Tiber, favored greatly of high Heaven.here shall arise my house magnificent,a city of all cities chief and crown.Translation by John Dryden | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

## Cathedral (S. Liberatore): (left) fa�ade with the inscription "Ecclesia Cathedralis Sabinorum": (right-above) "Italian hour" clock with the heraldic symbols of Cardinal Annibale Albani; (right-below) coats of arms of a Farnese cardinal (Alessandro seniore, Alessandro iuniore, Ranuccio and Odoardo were all Bishops of Sabina) and of Cardinal Andrea Corsini (1776-1795)

Six Cardinals are Bishops, fifty are priests and fourteen are deacons. The Sees of the Cardinal-Bishops are in the vicinity of Rome (thus named "suburbicarian"), and are Ostia and Velletri, Porto and S. Rufina, Albano, Frascati (Tusculum), Palestrina and finally Sabina. Rev. Jeremiah Donovan - Rome Ancient and Modern - 1842 In antiquity the see of Sabina was located at Forum Novum, a minor Roman town near today's Casperia. The site was eventually called Vescovio because it was the residence of the Bishop; it became such a small centre that in 1495 Pope Alexander VI relocated the bishopric see to Magliano which could be easily reached from Rome through Via Flaminia, most likely to please Cardinal-Bishop Oliviero Carafa, a powerful member of the Papal court. Several cardinal-bishops of Sabina were "promoted" to the more prestigious sees of Ostia and Porto, so that their time in this diocese was short. Cardinal Scipione Borghese was Bishop of Sabina in 1629-1633 (see the inscription he placed at S. Gregorio al Celio); he was the first to obtain the appointment of an auxiliary bishop to assist him in meeting the needs of the diocese.

## S. Pietro (XIIth century): (left) fa�ade; (right) interior with ancient columns and early medieval capitals

According to tradition Magliano is named after Titus Manlius Imperious Torquatus, a Roman consul and dictator of the IVth century BC and the coat of arms of the town shows a Roman knight (see the image used as background for this page). The settlement originated in the XIth century from a small castle built by the Abbots of Farfa. S. Pietro is the main remaining monument of the medieval town. It is dated XIIth century and it consists of three naves, divided by rows of columns, two of which (a spiralling one and that opposite it) are of Roman origin. The fa�ade is decorated with slender semi-columns.

## (left) S. Maria delle Grazie (rebuilt in the early XXth century); (right) XVth century much worshipped painting with a XIXth century silver decoration

In the XIIth century a small church was built at the western end of the town on the site of a small fortification which protected the access to the settlement from the River Tiber valley. In the XVth century a larger building incorporated the previous church, but in 1898 it collapsed because of an earthquake which struck also Rieti.

## Renaissance portals near the Cathedral: (left) Palazzo Solimani Paluzzi (it is decorated with the five-petal rose of the Orsini); (right) Palazzo di Ottavio Micarozzi "Physicus" (physician / alchemist), the coat of arms includes elements of those of the Orsini and of the Farnese

These two portals are similar to others at Narni and Terni. They testify to the wealth of Magliano in the XVIth century; in addition to the impact of being a bishopric see, the town benefitted from having a river harbour with a florid trade with that of Ripetta in Rome. In 1589 Pope Sixtus V decided to build Ponte Felice to improve communication along Via Flaminia; the bridge was built on dry ground and then the river-bed was modified and the harbour was destroyed; in addition the bridge created some swamps which favoured the spreading of malaria. A chronicle of the year 1600 reports that Magliano is much diminished from its former splendour and there is little left other than the Bishop's throne.

## Seminario della Sabina

On July 15, 1563, the bishops gathered in Trent unanimously approved the decree Cum adolescentium aetas that recommended the erection of a seminary in each diocese. It was a provision of great significance that endowed the Church with an instrument for the care of vocations to the ordained priesthood. It foresaw that the formation of seminarists, who by preference were chosen from poor families, would be without charge. Prior to the decree new priests and deacons were formed by a sort of training on the job. Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, Bishop of Sabina in 1591-1597, discussed with the archpriests of the diocese the location of the seminary and although he eventually decided to create it at Magliano he explicitly called it Seminar of Sabina. On April 29, 1593, preceded by all the clergy of the diocese of Sabina and the people of Magliano, Cardinal Paleotti accompanied 12 young men in the clerical habit to the building prepared for them. The seminar was housed in facilities offered by the local municipality which were eventually enlarged and redesigned.

## Cathedral: (left) interior; (right) fresco depicting the Assumption of Mary by Giovanni Domenico Piestrini

In 1736 Cardinal Annibale Albani, nephew of Pope Clement XI, celebrated a diocesan synod in Sabina; on that occasion he realized that the Cathedral was in very poor condition and he commissioned its redesign to Filippo Barigioni, one of the leading architects in Rome, and to Pietro Paolo Alfieri. The decoration of the apse brings to mind that of some illusionistic ceilings of Rome. Cardinal Albani also enlarged the seminary, built the residence for the auxiliary bishops and instituted the Monte di Piet�. The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Liberatore, a rather unknown martyr of the IInd century AD.

## Cathedral: (left) The Coronation of Mary by Rinaldo Jacovetti aka Rinaldo da Calvi (XVIth century); (right) XVIIIth century baptismal font with the heraldic symbols of the Albani (see a fine baptismal font which Cardinal Alderano Cybo, Bishop of Ostia donated to his Cathedral in 1698)

The importance of Magliano was reduced in 1627 when [Pope Urban VIII](Storia24.html#Urban VIII) declared that the Abbey of Farfa (which he had assigned to his nephew Cardinal Francesco Barberini) and 15 nearby locations should not report to the Cardinal-Bishops of Sabina, but they were nullius dioecesis (did not belong to any dioceses). As a matter of fact, the Abbots began the construction of a Cathedral at Poggio Mirteto where they usually resided.

## Town Hall

In 1798 [French troops occupied Rome](Storia28.html#Roman Republic) and the central political and administrative structure of the Papal State fell apart. The citizens of Magliano felt they needed a proper municipal authority and bought a palace opposite the Seminary which is still the Town Hall. The restoration of the Papal State did not favour Magliano because in 1841 [Pope Gregory XVI](Storia29.html#Gregory XVI) formally created the diocese of Poggio Mirteto which was enlarged with 21 parishes from that of Magliano. In 1925 the two dioceses were merged and the Cathedral of S. Liberatore became a Co-Cathedral. Since 1962 the diocese is managed by an ordinary bishop, although a cardinal continues to be nominally appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina - Poggio Mirteto.

## View from the western end of Magliano: Monte Cimino with Gallese (left) and Soriano (right); between 1860 and 1870 Magliano was part of the Kingdom of Italy and the locations shown above of the Papal State (see a map of that period)

I invite the reader to join me in a drive through Roman Tuscanya - the ancient Etruria - and the Sabine Mountains. This offers special interest to the traveller just now, from the fact of the recent annexation of these Papal States by the kingdom of Italy. It is safest to travel by vetturino, that essentially national institution which may too soon have ceased to exist, as the iron way spreads in Italy. (..) One early morning in September, when the weather was at its very best, and the Tuscan Campagna was wrapped in all the glorious colours of its autumn mantle, I drove out from Rome by the old Flaminian Way. To the right rose Soracte, peaked and solitary, while the mighty summits of the Sabine range gradually revealed themselves in a succession of magnificent vistas. (..) At six o'clock we reached Civita Castellana (..) a French flag was flying above this dark and picturesque old place, which is the last Papal stronghold on the border and is occupied by Napoleon (III)'s troops. Here, where the Tiber divides the remnant of the Papal dominions from the new kingdom of Italy, I encountered the first detachment I had seen of Piedmontese soldiers. The river, flowing south, forms the boundary between Umbria and the Sabina. (..) Old Father Tiber winds charmingly through a spacious and glorious valley, the Sabine Mountains standing all round it; the gleaming white towns on their heights are now filled with Lombard and Piedmontese troops. The river is wide at Borghetto, and is spanned by a beautiful old bridge just below it, called Ponte Felice, in memory of its builder, Pope Sixtus V. (..) Just in the middle of the bridge, above the inscription to Pope Sixtus, the French flag was waving. The jurisdiction of the present successor to so long and world-renowned a dynasty of Popes ends there. There begins the new kingdom created in the year 1859 by the Italian revolutionaries. At the other extremity of this bridge hung two Italian standards. (..) The panorama seen from this bridge was most extensive and beautiful. Just opposite stood the grim old Magliano, the See of a Sabine bishop arrested and imprisoned some months ago, and beyond it was Poggio Mirteto, now the headquarters of the Piedmontese frontier army (..) I drove on and up into that beautiful mountain region - its hill-sides rich in oil and wine and chestnuts - a smiling district truly. The people are a strong, honest, patriarchal race; primitive and untaught for the most part. Ferdinand Gregorovius - An Excursion through the Sabina and Umbria in 1861 - transl. by D. Roberts The addition of Sabina was required after the unification of Italy to distinguish the town from several others, e.g. Magliano dei Marsi.