Isola Martana
| Isola Martana | ||
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| Waters | Lake Bolsena | |
| Geographical location | 42 ° 32 '58 " N , 11 ° 57' 9" E | |
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| length | 510 m | |
| width | 280 m | |
| surface | 10 ha | |
| Highest elevation | 375 m slm | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
The Isola Martana is the southern and smaller of the two islands in Lake Bolsena , the other is the Isola Bisentina . It is located in the province of Viterbo in the Italian region of Lazio . The island is 510 meters long and up to 280 meters wide and has an area of 10 hectares . It reaches a height of 375 meters above sea level and rises 73 meters above the water surface of Lake Bolsena. It is uninhabited and is part of the municipality of Marta , after which it is named.
Geography and geology
The island on the southwestern shore of the lake is about two kilometers from the town of Marta. The steep walls on the north side are made of stratified volcanic rock . To the south the cliffs are sloping and on the small plain that is farmed there is a ferrous mineral spring. Numerous rabbits and seagulls live on the island.
The crescent-shaped rock island is the relic of a volcanic eruption 132,000 years ago that created a crater that is now filled with the waters of Lake Bolsena.
history
The long history of the island is evident from Etruscan and Roman finds near the shore. According to legend , Christina , venerated as a martyr in the Roman Catholic Church , who is said to have lived in the late 3rd century AD, was held on this island before her execution. Likewise, the Ostrogothic Queen Amalasuntha , daughter of Theodoric the Great , was imprisoned by her cousin and co-regent Theodahad here in his villa and finally murdered on April 30, 535 in the associated bathing building, with the wife of Emperor Justinianus I , Theodora , allegedly in the background played a dubious role. A plaque erected in 1994 commemorates the 1500th anniversary of her birth on the northeast bank. Because of these two women, Martana is also called the isola delle due donne ( island of the two women ).
In the 9th century the two churches of S. Stefano and S. Valentino and a castle were on the island. Isola Martana and St. Stephen's monastery are documented in a bull from Pope Leo IV in 852 AD . At that time, the island was of strategic importance for the regional aristocratic rulers and changed hands several times. Various orders such as the Benedictines , Augustinians and Vincentians used the monastery until the 17th century . In 1328 there were about 500 inhabitants on the island of Martana. For a time it was even an independent commune, the seal of which showed Saints Stephen and Martha. In 1462 Pope Pius II visited the island. After the property was taken over by the Farnese family , the residents gradually moved to Marta, and in 1690 no one lived here anymore.
In the early 1900s a large Italian Liberty style mansion was built for private use. In the 1950s and 1960s, pigs, rabbits, chickens and pheasants were raised on the island and vegetables were grown. These products were sold regionally. An underground passage connects the two peaks of the island.
Today only relics of the historical buildings remain. The island came into private ownership in the middle of the 20th century and is currently not open to the public.
literature
- Massimiliano Vitiello: Theodahad. A Platonic King at the Collapse of Ostrogothic Italy , Toronto u. a. 2014 ISBN 978-1-4426-4783-1 pp. 94-104 (on Theodahad and Amalasuntha)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d L'isola Martana nel lago di Bolsena a Marta , accessed on September 5, 2014 (Italian)
- ↑ Move About Italy: Lake Bolsena
- ↑ The Isola Martana on lagodibolsena.org