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A MORNING AT LUCUS FERONIAE
written by Sergio Caggìa (with Paul Gwynne and Simone Parkes)
for © Nerone the Insider's Guide to Rome
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The ruins of Lucus Feroniae recall a once thriving and busy market town. Here "a sanctuary of Etruscan origins was built by the youth of Veio" (Cato). This sanctuary over the years became the site of an important annual market where the neigbouring populations (Faliscans, Etruscans, Sabinians and Latins) met to transact business and to celebrate the goddess Feronia, the ancient protectress of wild beasts. The Roman city was probably founded by the triumvir Octavian and flourished under the reigns of the emperors Augustus and Trajan in the first century A.D.
Excavations have brought to light roads, houses, inns, the forum with the large rectangular podium next to the Basilica and a circular marble base decorated with festoons and bucrania, a small amphitheatre (built towards the middle of the second century A.D.), as well as a bath complex.
An odd feature of the city is the absence of protective perimetral walls. Lucus Feroniae has a wonderful location atop a hill, dominating the Tiber valley and offering visitors a beautiful panorama. It's very easy to get there. Take the train to Viterbo from Piazzale Flaminio and get off at Saxa Rubra. You can use the ordinary 75 minute ticket or your travel card.
From the coach station buy the ticket to Fiano Romano. From the Via Flaminia the bus takes then the Via Tiberina along which is a bus stop right in front of the entrance to Lucus Feroniae. Some bus drivers, however, may not know about it. So ask to get off at the stop that follows the turn to Capena (you can use, perhaps, this phrase: "Per piacere, devo scendere dopo il bivio per Capena!"). From the turn to Capena to Lucus Feroniae it's about a 1.5 km. This site is open everyday from 9am-1pm (only occasionally is open in the afternoon and merely umpredictable!).
Entrance is free. No shops or bars around, so take along your picnic! You may be interested in visiting the new Mosque in Rome, a reminder of the multi-denominational make-up of the Eternal City, as well as a fine example of modern architecture. It's located along the railway line on the way to Saxa Rubra at Campi Sportivi station which is rather isolated. Perhaps it is a better idea to get off at Acqua Acetosa instead, and take the Viale della Moschea by the pedestrian bridge over the railway. The big marble fountain on the way, beside a little bar, is the old Acetosa water spring.
Until the beginning of the century this place was the destination for a Sunday afternoon trip for the inhabitants of Rome. Also, in previous centuries, the acquaiuoli, the Roman water sellers, used to come here with their donkeys and barrels to get water to sell in the City. This water, in fact, because of the high level of iron, was highly estimed for its curative proprieties. Unfortunately today the waters that gush from the three taps do not originate from the Acetosa spring. |
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