Visits to Lazio. From Medieval Sermoneta to the lush flora of Nymph

by Fabio Massimo Penna

Sermoneta is a beautiful medieval village. Built by the Volscis, Sermoneta experienced a period of abandonment due to the barbarian invasions before becoming a fiefdom of the Caetani family in 1418. The town develops in a circular way around the structure of the castle that dominates the whole village. The houses are characterized by a light color given to them by the classic limestone from the quarries of the Lepini Mountains. Once an important center for the production of wool cloths, Sermoneta hosted a significant Jewish community as evidenced by the synagogue of Via Guglielmo Marconi embedded in a private dwelling. The centrepiece of the city is the Castle Caetani, a lavish architectural representation of the importance of the family in the place, which, however, owes the initial phase of its construction to the Hannibal family that had a decisive role for the city at the time. The castle is characterized by the grandiose keep that imposes itself mighty in the panorama of Sermoneta. Other areas of the fortress are the imposing baron's hall, featuring three arches and the pints chambers adorned with mythological scenes of a Pinturicchio school painter. In 2011, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the unity of Italy, Caetani's band was performed by the Carabinieri band led by M. Massimo Martinelli.

St. Mary's Cathedral is also of considerable artistic value. Initially built in the Romanesque style it was later modified to acquire a Gothic appearance. Hence an original connotation due to the Romanesque characters on which a vigorous Gothic renewal is grafted. The distinctive signs of the Romanesque can be found in particular in the bell tower marked by bifurcation, a pronounced serration and rounds of polychrome ceramic. The inside maintains the same amalgamation of the two different artistic styles. Among the pictorial decorations of the cathedral stands out the "Madonna presenting Sermoneta", a painting considered by Benozzo Gozzoli. The Florentine Benozzo di Lese, called Gozzoli, a pupil and collaborator of Beato Angelico, characterizes his work for the sweetness of style and chromatic elegance. His absolute masterpiece is "The Ride of the Magi" by Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence, a fresco with fairy-tale tones in which an interminable procession of knights and footmen winds through a rocky environment constituting a whole in which the details are very detailed and the characters depicted are precise portraits of representatives of the Medici family. 

Not far from Sermoneta is the "dead city" of Nymph, a place full of ruins within which there is a magnificent garden. An important urban center already in Roman times, Ninfa owes its name to the temple dedicated to the nymphs that was located in the area. The first settlements from which the city develops are due to the veterans of Silla to whom the lands had been attributed. The pinnacle of urban development occurs in the Middle Ages when the area is protected by a wall in which buildings were built of which the remains can still be admired.  Nymph becomes part of the vast possessions of the Caetani family, which enjoys the landing at the papal threshold of Bonifacio VIII. At the death of the pontiff, the territories of the Caetani suffer attacks from the enemies of the family. After alternating events (the conquest of the site by the Hannibal family, the assignment of the territory to the declining palatine branch of the Caetani family) row city suffers the destructive attack of 1381 launched by the inhabitants of Sermoneta, Bassiano and Sezze. From here the site, lost the size of the urban center, begins its sunset, until in 1921 Gelasio Caetani, made to clean the land, starts the construction of the garden. This enchanting "garden of delights" is home to botanical specimens from all parts of the world, which often need special habitats but which here manage to thrive and create a lush flora. The avenues are embellished with an extraordinary variety of plants from oaks, oaks, California red beech trees, Japanese maples, Chinese cherry trees. The garden is also home to what is considered the largest poplar tremulous in all of Italy. Among the ruins of the site of considerable interest is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore with the nearby and imposing bell tower of the Milleduecento. The interior divided into three aisles is embellished with frescoes dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries.