Subiaco is an Italian town of 8 778 inhabitants in the
metropolitan city of Rome Capital in Lazio. The territory is varied
with mountainous areas and lowland areas. It is crossed by the
Aniene and affects some peaks of the Simbruini Mountains (Monte
Calvo, 1,591 m and Monte Livata, 1,429 m). It includes a vast beech
forest on a plateau that extends over an area of 3000 hectares
included in the Monti Simbruini regional natural park.
Climate
The meteorological station of Subiaco Santa Scolastica is
the closest in the area and from that you have all the information
relating to the climate of Subiaco.
Remains of the residence of Emperor Nero have been
identified, around which the center developed, consisting of a
complex of buildings at different levels in an elevated position on
the right bank of the Aniene, near a series of artificial lakes; a
large two-storey nucleus with a large apsidal niche and large
communicating rooms was brought to light.
A bridge-dam of
considerable size, which connected the two banks and served as a
barrier for the waters, called pons marmoreus, has now entirely
disappeared; only traces of the foundations remain.
In the
villa, which belonged to the imperial until the third century AD, a
sleeping female head and a portrait of an ephebe were found, both
now in Rome (at the National Roman Museum).
The origins of
the current Benedictine abbey date back to the beginning of the
sixth century, when Saint Benedict of Norcia, after the experiment
of hermit life conducted in a cave near the ancient villa built
there by Nero, founded thirteen monasteries in the sublacense area
to give hospitality to his first disciples, coming in part from the
Roman nobility.
Later (XII century) on the initiative of the
abbots, the sanctuary-monastery of the Sacro Speco was built, built
over the original memory of the Saint.
Of the thirteen
monasteries founded by St. Benedict, only the current monastery of
Santa Scolastica, initially dedicated to San Silvestro, remains,
which boasts the title of Protocenoby of the Sublacense Congregation
of the Benedictine Order. The others were destroyed or abandoned.
In the 9th century the monastery of Santa Scolastica suffered
two devastations by the Saracens: one in 828-829, the other probably
in 876-877, even if for this historical period the reconstructions
are not unique.
In the 10th century it received donations
from various popes (John X, Leo VII, John XII, Benedict VII, Gregory
V) who enlarged the territory of the abbey.
Always with papal
favor, the abbey experienced a period of great splendor in the 11th
and 12th centuries, becoming a highly sought-after fief for its
economic and political power. It was probably the first place in
Italy to be equipped with a book printing press, founded by the
Germans Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz in 1465, inside the
abbey.
The continuous struggles with the feudal families
however led to its decline. Erected in commendam by Pope Callisto
III (1456), it was entrusted to Cardinal Giovanni Torquemada (Juan
de Torquemada), uncle of the famous inquisitor. In 1467 it then
passed to Rodrigo Borgia, future Pope Alexander VI and,
subsequently, to the Colonna (1492), the Borghese (1608) and the
Barberini (1633).
In 1753, Pope Benedict XIV deprived the
commendatory abbots of temporal jurisdiction, leaving however the
ecclesiastical and spiritual one. Suppressed by the French (at the
beginning of the 19th century), restored shortly afterwards by Pope
Pius VII, the abbey was reinstated in its privileges of abbey
nullius by Pope Benedict XV (1915).
Francesco Bulgarini, in
1848 speaks of "ciociari" mountain peasants in reference to
sharecroppers coming seasonally from the Subiaco district to Tivoli
to cultivate maize. In 1867 Subiaco witnessed the Agro Romano
Campaign for the liberation of Rome wanted by Giuseppe Garibaldi. In
the month of October the Milanese Garibaldi captain Emilio Blenio
and some of his companions were murdered there in a clash with the
pontiffs. The remains of the Garibaldini were transferred by the
Società Veteran Patrie Battaglie from Subiaco to the Ara-Ossuary of
Mentana as shown by documents kept in the archives. One of the
Thousand, Luigi Pistoia, also came from Subiaco, to whom a small
square is named (Piazzetta Luigi Pistoia).
Religious architectures
Monastery of Santa
Scolastica. It includes a Gothic church (which has the dignity of a
minor basilica) with a Romanesque bell tower and was transformed in
1771-1776 by the architect Giacomo Quarenghi in neoclassical forms.
The monastery is built around three cloisters:
Cosmatesque
cloister (XII and XIII centuries);
Gothic cloister (14th and 15th
centuries);
late Renaissance cloister (late 16th century).
Monastery of San Benedetto, or "del Sacro Speco", built near a rock
wall. Consisting of a complex of rooms, churches and chapels,
sometimes carved out of the rock, it preserves fresco decorations
from various eras and a portrait of St. Francis (1223).
Church of
San Francesco, from 1327, with wooden altars and valuable paintings
from the 15th and 16th centuries;
Church of Sant'Andrea, built to
a design by Pietro Camporese in neoclassical forms, devastated by
bombs in the Second World War and restored by Florestano Di Fausto,
with 6 bells: the "campanone", a si2 cast in 1760, the second bell,
re3 fixed (inside the church), the third, a F3 (flat), the fourth, a
B3 that looks like a C4 (flat) and the last 2 bells, E4 and F4
(fixed), all 2 ancient.
Church of Santa Maria della Valle. Together with the cathedral of
Santa Scolastica and the palace of Pope Pius VI, it forms a
neoclassical architectural complex. It has 4 bells: the big bell, an
F # 3, the second, a sib3, the third, a D4 and the small one, an E4.
Civil architectures
Abbey fortress, medieval, but largely
transformed between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries);
Archaeological sites
Archaeological area of the villa of Nero
Natural areas
Simbruini Mountains
Monti Simbruini Regional
Natural Park
Mount Livata