A Roman road, a church...

by Mary Jane Cryan - Photos by author & Antonio Marcon

Details of frescoes attributed to Masaccio, stolen from S. Maria in Forcassi, Vetralla.

Part of the the ancient Via Clodia is still visible in the gardens of villas near Forum Cassii, just outside the town of Vetralla. This hillside was the site of a large Roman market town and during the Middle Ages an important stopping place for pilgrims in transit to Rome.

Today visitors see mainly crumbling walls overgrown by brush: the remains of Santa Maria in Forcassi. A few years ago when the church’s ancient wooden roof beams (capriate) began to collapse the Sovrintendenza, the government body delegated to protect the country’s antiquities, had an ugly corrugated metal roof put up. Instead of protecting the structure, it has actually hastened the demise of the historic building.
Delicate frescoes attributed to Masaccio by art historian Enrico Guidoni, (who just recently passed away) attracted the attention of knowledgeable art thieves who removed them using the “stacco” method. The remaining bits of other frescoes are being gently but definitely washed away by the seeping rain water allowed in by the metal “protective” roof.

The Sovrintendenza also approved the installation of a parking lot for gypsy caravans and trucks directly across the street from the historic church complex.

Along the road where once a Roman forum, a medieval pilgrims’ hostel and church once stood, visitors now “enjoy” these sights.

…and Roman Baths in the open countryside.

A welcome contrast to this outrageous treatment of antiquities is the revamping of the hot baths known as Le Pozze or le Masse di San Sisto located just a few kilometres further north along the Via Cassia between Vetralla and Viterbo. The organizers of the San Sisto cultural association and hot pools have set up a Thermal and Archaeological Park with no permanent structures to mar the pristine setting.

Entrance with Roman walls

Crystal clear waters of the Frigidarium pool

Roman soldiers used these waters to heal their battle wounds and pilgrims, including Michelangelo, paused for respite during their travels to and from Rome.
Nowadays you will find many local people and even visitors from far away lounging in the three pools frigidarium, tiepidarium and caldarium, and taking sun on the lawns dotted with Roman ruins.

Map showing numerous hot baths in the Viterbo-Vetralla area.

Safeguarding Minor Monuments
The wealth of monuments and works of art throughout Italy often overwhelms visitors from other countries. Major tourist attractions and small towns alike are layer cakes of history: an Etruscan necropolis might overlap a Roman site and a bit of medieval fresco is sometimes found within a Renaissance church building.
Used to this “Dolby surround” of art and ancient monuments since childhood, the average Italian citizen becomes blasé and nonchalant taking this wealth of beauty and history for granted.

Such is the case of Vetralla located at the strategic crossroads of Via Cassia (SS2) and Via Aurelia bis (SS1bis) . A census of heraldic monuments scattered throughout the town shows Vetralla’s illustrious past as an important fortress in the Papal States.

The oldest monument, between an ugly metallic garage door and a half collapsed balcony, has a small tiara with crossed keys. Used as a papal logo since the times of Avignon, the monument testifies to the visit of Pope Nicholas V (Tomasso Parentucelli 1447-1455) to Vetralla during the summer of 1454.

On the façade of the Madonna del Riscatto church a sculpted coat-of-arms of Pope Paul II Barbo (1464-71) with a Templars cross per bend awaits study by experts. According to a papal brief, Paul II reconfirmed the privileges and concessions, given by Pope Eugene IV, to keep guns for defense of the city and the liberty of Jews to live in Vetralla.

Visitors are always impressed by the monument on the stairway of the Town Hall with coat-of-arms of Pope Julius II Della Rovere (1503-13) together with those of King Henry VIII Tudor and his Cardinal Ambassador, Christopher Bainbridge showing the town’s ancient ties with the English crown.
Groups of English and Scottish tourists who visit the Town Hall almost weekly are amazed to find this connection with English history (including the St. George Cross as the town symbol) in a remote corner of Italy.

On the outside wall of the Town Hall another papal coat of arms, that of Pope Sixtus V Peretti (1585-90) shows the town’s connections with the great dynasties of the 16th-17th centuries such as the Montalto-Peretti and the Farnese.

A frescoed coat-of- arms in nearby Palazzo Vinci Brugiotti shows the town’s links to Pope Paul V Borghese (1605-21).

Another memorial sculpted in stone with the arms of Pope Sixtus V can be found behind the elementary school next to the garbage bins, along with an Etruscan sarcophagus and a Roman funerary monument.

“Several years ago, the huge stone shield had been re-discovered among the hydrangea plants in the gardens of the school and along with the imposing wrought iron gates, was removed (for safe-keeping??). The gates have disappeared but the monument remains next to the garbage bins awaiting its fate. Considering its size it must have been a decoration for the clock tower of Piazza della Rocca, destroyed in the bombings of 1944. It is difficult to “read” due to poor state of conservation but the Peretti symbols (bunch of pears and stars) are the same as those present in similar monuments of Villa Lante. “

Sequel: Soon after this article appeared, these minor monuments were transported to the inside corridor of the elementary school and set up to form the beginning of a mini museum.