Castel Sant'Elia
| Castel Sant'Elia | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Country | Italy | |
| region | Lazio | |
| province | Viterbo (VT) | |
| Coordinates | 42 ° 15 ' N , 12 ° 23' E | |
| height | 210 m slm | |
| surface | 23.99 km² | |
| Residents | 2,557 (Dec 31, 2019) | |
| Population density | 107 inhabitants / km² | |
| Post Code | 01030 | |
| prefix | 0761 | |
| ISTAT number | 056017 | |
| Popular name | Castellesen | |
| Patron saint | Anastasius of Soupentonia | |
| Website | Castel Sant'Elia | |
Castel Sant'Elia is a municipality with 2557 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) in the central Italian province of Viterbo , 33 km south of the provincial capital of the same name and 45 km north of Rome . It belongs to the Lazio region .
Location and geography
Castel Sant'Elia is located east of Nepi on a connecting route between the Roman roads Via Cassia in the west and Via Flaminia in the east. The place lies on a steep tuff plateau sloping into a wooded valley, the Valle Suppentonia .
history
The living and grave caves in the tuff wall show that the rocky plateau above the Valle Suppentonia was already Etruscan settled; these dwellings were presumably abandoned again in the Roman Empire when a reinforced castrum was built on the plateau.
Critical to the sources, the area first appeared around 600 through Pope Gregory the Great . Below the castrum , deep in the forest, was a Benedictine monastery founded by Abbot Anastasius von Suppentonia , of which only the basilica remained; the abbot is still venerated today as the patron saint of the community. The legendary encounter between the Pope and the Lombard queen Theodelinde is said to have taken place in the Grotta di San Leonardo rock cave in order to prevent the invasion of Rome planned by her husband Agilulf - which in the end did not take place.
Since the pippi African donation inhabited only by a few shepherds and farmers land belonged to the monastery formally to the Papal States , but was in reality in the Middle Ages by the local feudal lords (members of the family Colonna and Orsini controlled). It was taken over by the Farnese in the 16th century and introduced an efficient administrative system on behalf of the papal central power, strengthened by wars elsewhere.
Fort and city wall as the center of today's townscape approx. 1.5 km further west on the plateau date back to this time. The borgo grew and flourished economically; In 1634 he was granted city rights.
In the middle of the 17th century, the Farnese sold the castle to Pope Innocent X ; a century later, the Marchesi of Lezzano acquired the building, which is now used as the town hall. The building fabric outside the city walls with today's thoroughfare Corso Umberto I ° was not built until the 18th century.
Like the entire Papal States, Castel Sant'Elia has belonged to the Italian state since 1870 and to the province of Viterbo since 1927.
Cityscape and landmarks
A distinction must be made - due to the local history in its various epochs - basically three zones of different cultural assets:
- The ancient archaeological zone on the plateau, within which there are also several churches and sanctuaries,
- the capital, founded under the Farnese in the 17th century, also on the plateau, but 1.5 km west of the archaeological zone,
- the Basilica Sant'Elia as the spiritual center of the former Benedictine monastery, standing alone below the tuff rock in the middle of the forest above the canyon floor of the Valle Suppentonia .
The basilica is the municipality's main art historical and tourist attraction.
The archaeological zone
- Remnants of Roman walls and defense towers of the Castrum are still recognizable today, distributed over the entire plateau; they are called Castelli ( Pizzo Jella, d'Ischi, Porciano, Conversina, Filissano, Paterno ) and were partially used in the Middle Ages. Emperor Otto III died on Paterno in 1002 .
- Of the numerous Etruscan caves, two have become known as hermit grottoes (Grotto of Anastasius and Grotto of Benedictine abbot Nonnoso). The Grotta di San Leonardo , legendarily mentioned by Gregory the Great, was completely decorated with frescoes, of which only relics are recognizable.
- The nucleus of the local cult of Mary is the rock cave of Santa Maria ad Rupes , into which the Benedictine monks are said to have withdrawn from a miraculous picture since the 6th century. It was not rediscovered by pilgrims until the 18th century. In the 19th century, hermit Giuseppe Andrea Rodio had a 144-step access from the plateau down the rock to the grotto. Father Josef Bernhard Döbbing OFM, who later became Bishop of Nepi and Sutri, settled here with a group of Irish Franciscans in 1892 , built a convent at the foot of these stairs and in 1908 had St. Joseph's Church built in neo-Gothic style. In 1982 the convent was taken over by Polish friars of the congregation of St. Michael the Archangel .
- According to art historical studies, the miraculous portrait of Mary in the rock grotto, which shows the overpainting of an older fresco , goes back to the school of Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato . It depicts Mary in a starry robe with a crown, spreading her hands praying over the baby Jesus who is also crowned on her lap . The iconographically unusual representation was visited by numerous popes, kings and other prominent personalities.
- On the tuff plateau there are a number of smaller churches, such as the Church of St. Michael (Romanesque origin, restored in 1983), another St. Mary's Church dating back to the 13th or 14th century, the Church of St. Lucia from 1656, and that of Saint Anthony of Padua from 1828.
- Between Nepi and Civita Castellana , a paved section of Via Amerina (3rd century BC) can be seen at Tre Ponti , a Roman road that ran from Nepi to Gubbio , where it met the Via Flaminia. It takes its name from the historic city of Ameria, which corresponds to today's Amelia . In the Middle Ages this road was very important as it was the only connection between Rome and the Exarchate of Ravenna . One of three Roman bridges over two watercourses is still preserved in the rugged rocky landscape.
The main town
The oldest buildings in the area are the Farnese Fort (17th century), which today houses the municipal administration, and the remains of the city wall with a crenellated gate from the same era.
The parish church of Sant'Antonio was founded in 1740 under Pope Clement XII. built on the remains of a forerunner from the 16th century. The interior is baroque, with the exception of a 15th century Renaissance triptych depicting Christ enthroned between John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, which comes from the Basilica of Sant'Elia.
The Basilica
The Benedictine monastery was founded by St. Anastasius in Soupentoma ad S. Eliam around 520. Nothing has been preserved from the original system. It was dedicated to the prophet Elias ; The namesake of the still existing Romanesque basilica, however, is the Benedictine abbot Elias, who built it on the foundations of its predecessor at the beginning of the 11th century. The monastery was dissolved by Pope Alexander IV in 1258 and given to the canons of Santo Spirito in Sassia . When they built the new parish church of Sant'Antonio in the main town in 1740, the stand-alone complex in the forest fell into disrepair. In 1855 the campanile collapsed. Still under the pontificate of Pius IX. began the restoration work of the basilica by demolishing the ruins of the monastery buildings; this work dragged on until the beginning of the 21st century.
The three-aisled basilica on a T-shaped floor plan has a simple tufa facade with three arched portals, two single-arched windows above and arched frieze (12th century). The nave (31 m) is closed off by a transept and a small round apse. Inside, the main and side aisles are divided by marble columns with Corinthian capitals, which are believed to have come from Roman villas in the area. In the front right aisle, a Lombard mask capital falls out of the frame.
The main cosmatic pieces of equipment (12th century) are a ciborium in the center of the apse with a cross and four marble columns with Corinthian capitals, as well as an ambo with rich relief decorations in the form of geometric patterns, plants, flowers and birds. The marble floor with typical decors also belongs to the cosmatic epoch.
The main art-historical attraction of the basilica, however, is its excellently preserved early Romanesque frescoes in the apse and on the side walls of the transept. They were attributed to the brothers Giovanni and Stefano Niccolò and their common nephew Giovanni Niccolò, who worked in Rome and the surrounding area at the beginning of the 11th century. Depicted on the apse wall is the risen Christ between the hll. Peter, Paul and other, not clearly identified biblical figures, probably Elijah and Moses . In the row below, twelve lambs symbolize the twelve apostles on the way to the Lamb of God . The bottom row shows a procession of virgins with crowns in hand, which they want to present to a figure in the middle of the picture that has been destroyed (presumably the Mother of God).
The frescoes on the left wall of the transept were almost completely destroyed by a rock fall in 1607 that hit the basilica. The visions of the Apocalypse are shown on the right wall of the transept . Scenes from the life of St. Anastasius follow. The appearance of the original basilica can still be seen from one scene. Further frescoes, which can be assigned to a later era (13th / 14th century), are on the nave walls. Saint Anastasius and Benedictine abbot Nonnoso from Monte Soratte are buried in the two-aisled crypt with groin vaults .
population
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 724 |
| 1901 | 1088 |
| 1921 | 1322 |
| 1951 | 1554 |
| 1971 | 1513 |
| 1991 | 1935 |
| 2001 | 2151 |
politics
Bruno Darida ( center-right alliance ) was elected mayor in May 2006. His center-right alliance has the majority in the municipal council with eight out of twelve seats.
Self-image, economy and social issues
Castel Sant'Elia sees itself as a city of art ( città d'arte ). In addition to preserving its historical art treasures, the city is keen to give contemporary painters and sculptors a home; they regularly organize exhibitions in their studios.
In addition, Castel Sant'Elia sees itself as an environmentally friendly city that has participated in various national programs (Rete Natura 2000, Bioitaly). It relies on moderate, individually designed with tourism agrotourism -Unterkünften in the surrounding areas and integration into the local, tailored to the needs of local infrastructure (bars, tavola calda , small retail stores).
The population maintains a rich club life (art and music, hunting, fishing, sport, environmental and civil protection, various brotherhoods with social tasks).
There are also jobs in various ceramic factories and in the sanitary facilities in the communities on Via Cassia between Sutri , Vetralla and Viterbo .
Incidentally, the economy of the area with olive growing and sheep breeding is still characterized by agriculture.
Festivals
- January 17th: Feast of St. Anthony with balloon ride and animal show
- Easter: processions on Good Friday and Palm Sunday
- Corpus Christi: Great procession in which in earlier years (before the restoration in 2005) the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary was carried by Sassoferrato through the whole city
- Every year in June: Festival in which the meeting of Pope Gregory with the Lombard queen Theodolinde in the Grotta di San Leonardo is re-enacted by the local association for the promotion of traditions ( Pro Loco ).
- August / September: Marian months. All Marian feast days of the church year - also outside the months of August and September - play a major role in view of the early medieval tradition.
- September 2nd and 3rd: The patron saint feast of St. Nonnoso of Monte Soratte (September 2nd) is combined with a local feast day in honor of Anastasius of Suppentonia (September 3rd); the official patronage of the church year for Anastasius falls on January 11th.
- September 29: Feast of St. Michael .
- Christmas time: crib exhibitions
literature
- Bruno Darida (ed.): Castel Sant'Elia e il suo Territorio. Published by the municipality of Castel Sant'Elia, 2006, with further references, in Italian.
Web links
Acquapendente | Arlena di Castro | Bagnoregio | Barbarano Romano | Bassano Romano | Bassano in Teverina | Blera | Bolsena | Bomarzo | Calcata | Canepina | Canino | Capodimonte | Capranica | Caprarola | Carbognano | Castel Sant'Elia | Castiglione in Teverina | Celleno | Cellere | Civita Castellana | Civitella d'Agliano | Corchiano | Fabrica di Roma | Faleria | Farnese | Gallese | Gradoli | Graffignano | Grotte di Castro | Ischia di Castro | Latera | Lubriano | Martha | Montalto di Castro | Monte Romano | Montefiascone | Monterosi | Nepi | Onano | Oriolo Romano | Places | Piansano | Proceno | Ronciglione | San Lorenzo Nuovo | Soriano nel Cimino | Sutri | Tarquinia | Tessennano | Tuscania | Valentano | Vallerano | Vasanello | Vejano | Vetralla | Vignanello | Villa San Giovanni in Tuscia | Viterbo | Vitorchiano
Individual evidence
- ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
- ↑ ISTAT