Vetralla - Montefiascone

A CORNER OF ENGLAND IN NORTHERN LAZIO

2007 - Year of the Stuarts in Montefiascone & Vetralla

Vetralla, an hour north of Rome and the airports of Fiumicino and Ciampino, is a small town known for its olive oil, Etruscan sites and excellent climate. It is the only town in Italy (and perhaps the world) that can boast the historic protection of the English crown for almost 500 years. Visitors from England will feel doubly at home when they arrive here and see the town banner fluttering from the city hall for it is emblazoned with the red St. George Cross on a white background. Climbing up the city hall’s staircase they will note the large marble plaque dated 1512 sculpted with three majestic heraldic crests. Flanking the arms of Pope Julius II (under whose direction Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel) are those of Henry VIII Tudor and of his ambassador, Christopher Cardinal Bainbridge.

Ambassador Cardinal Bainbridge sent shipments of local food back to England including olive oil, wine and huge forms of cheese of which the king was particularly fond.

These are indications of Vetralla’s official status and the protection of the English crown, a relationship which has continued irregardless of the Spitfire incursions the town endured in 1944 during World War II. Bullet holes still mark the venerable old buildings and not far from town abandoned prison camp barracks where shot-down British airmen were held in 1944 can be glimpsed among the olive groves.

Hundreds of letters conserved in Windsor Castle’s archives make up part of the correspondence between the Stuart rulers and Vetralla’s town fathers during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The last of the Stuarts in exile, Cardinal Henry, the Duke of York, visited the town in October 1776 during one of his month-long holiday voyages to Tuscany and northern Lazio. His elegant marble portrait bust donated to the town in 1802 can be admired in the city council chamber where nostalgic Jacobites often leave bouquets of heather carried from the Scottish highlands.

Since the Bicentenary of the Cardinal-Protector’s death is coming up next year, the towns of Vetralla and nearby Montefiascone, where the royal parents(James Stuart and Polish princess Maria Clementina Sobieska) were wed in 1719, would do well to proclaim 2007 as Stuart Year .

What better sponsors for the goodness of Vetralla’s extra virgin olive oil and Montefiascone’s white wine than exiled royalty and important cardinals ?

The diaries of the Stuart Cardinal’s voyages form the basis for the recently published book “Travels to Tuscany and Northern Lazio” by Mary Jane Cryan and contain descriptions of Lucca, Bologna, Florence, Orvieto, Pisa and other towns visited by the Cardinal and his entourage during the years 1763 to 1776.

About Etruria

The area stretching along the Mediterranean coast from Rome to Florence, and beyond, was known as Etruria by the ancient Romans who subdued and then absorbed this mysterious people, destroying most of their written documents. It was the Anglo-Saxons who helped to renew the information about this lost civilization when Thomas Dempster wrote his “De Etruria Regali” in 1619, dedicating it to the Medici ruler of Florence.

In the 19^th century vestiges of the Etruscan civilization were found and popularized in London by the Campanari brothers of Tuscania. The Etruscan necropoli, cities of the dead dating from 8^th century B.C. were studied by George Dennis who published “Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria” in 1848.

Until recently the Etruria region ( aka Tuscia or Viterbese) has been snubbed by visitors in favour of neighbouring Tuscany. If the names Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Tuscania, Viterbo and Vetralla are little known, it is because the area is about 50 years behind the times, touristically speaking, due to their proximity to the overwhelmingly important Rome and Tuscany.

Here there is everything a visitor to Italy dreams about: wonderful nature, friendly population that are interested in meeting foreigners, inexpensive lodgings, food wine and the world’s finest extra virgin olive oil. The important historical, artistic and architectural sites are another reason for visiting Etruria.

You can learn more about the Tuscia or Etruria area in M.J. Cryan’s two books.

Vetralla

This small city of 12,000 inhabitants is a layer-cake of history. First inhabited by the Etruscans (600 B.C.) then a Roman forum town known as Forum Cassii. It was under the jurisdiction and protection of the English crown in 1512 when Pope Julius II donated it to Henry VIII’s ambassador, Cardinal Christopher Bainbridge. Their coat of arms can still be admired in the city hall.