A bizarre autumn paints the Altipiani di Arcinazzo red and brown, making the area among Trevi nel Lazio, Arcinazzo Romano and Piglio look like an amazing Alpine landscape. Let us start our archaeological-naturalistic tour and conclude it with a taste of chestnuts and a toast!
In the thirties, the biologist Sir Walter Becker began to plant fir-trees in this magical place hidden between the Valleys of Sacco and Alto Aniene at the foot of the Affilani and Ernici Mountains. At 800 metres above sea level, it might have seemed like a challenge, but the scientist succeeded, thanks to the unusual Dolomite climate of the Altipiani di Arcinazzo. The unique holm oak, beech, oak and chestnut forests, where the roaring Comunacque Waterfalls flow, host squirrels, foxes, woodpeckers, owls and wild boars. In Trevi nel Lazio, after walking for one hour towards the border with Guarcino, we reach the Arco di Trevi, the ancient Roman aqueduct immersed in the greenery and shaded by the Simbruini Mountains.
Trajan’s Villa in Arcinazzo Romano photo www.museovilladitraiano.it
Until the fifties, the Altipiani di Arcinazzo were inhabited only by shepherds, but in the sixties they turned into a “Little Switzerland”, with luxurious villas inspired by illustrious artists and actors, such as Audrey Hepburn. But the first building erected in the area was the Trajan’s Villa, which the Emperor, as testified by prestigious findings, chose as his summer residence in the first century AD, in order to hunt wild boars and deer. The Optimus Princeps (the greatest of all Roman emperors), a hunting and fishing lover, found this area crossed by the Aniene River perfect for practicing otium. The many remains found throughout the five hectares, where the Villa once stood, are now preserved in the village “Museum of Arcinazzo Romano” and in the “Museo Civico Archeologico Villa di Traiano” inside the archaeological area. Here we can admire marble slabs, the marine-themed shelf, stuccoes and the instrumentum domesticum, a set of ancient tools.
It is therefore not surprising that the Altipiani di Arcinazzo have often been chosen as a movie set. The Alpine beauty of this vast expanse witnessed, in 1959, the “Lights, camera, action!” of hundreds of extras in Charlton Heston’s Ben Hur. The William Wyler’s award-winning blockbuster was also filmed in other venues in Lazio, included the Cinecittà Studios and the Latomie di Salone, the ancient Roman quarries from where the tuff for the Colosseum was extracted. Other scenes were shot in Tivoli, Anzio, Nettuno, Canale Monterano and Fogliano, where Ben Hur rests before returning to Jerusalem.
We proceed towards Arcinazzo Romano, at the foot of Monte Altuino. Until the latest years of the nineteenth century, the village was called Ponza d’Arcinazzo, as many inhabitants still call it even today. The predominant colour here is brown, just like the chestnuts cooked over an open fire during the October Festival.
But let us accompany this delicious fruit with a good wine! The centuries old ruby red Cesanese D.O.C.G. is waiting to be served to you in Piglio. The village, perched on a rocky spur of Monte Scalambra, hosts, in October, the historic Grape Festival. And, if you are a white wine lover, raise a glass of Passerina in a toast at nightfall!