Cottanello - Cottanello

Cottanello is a center of the Lazio.

To know

Geographical notes

Located in Eastern Lazio in Sabina, the torrent flows in its municipal territory The Hague. The Cottanello red marble. It is 14 km from Contigliano, 23 from Rieti, 21 from Greccio.

Background

The territory of Cottanello has been inhabited since Roman times, as evidenced by the discovery of a large rustic villa in the type of atrium and peristyle in the locality of Collesecco.

The villa consists of an atrium with a central impluvium; the characteristic four cubicles arranged on the sides; a thermal area with frigidarium, tepidarium and calidarium; triclinium and other rooms, including the first mentioned Peristyle. This large structure was part of the agro foronovanus and belonged to the Aurelii Cottae, a separate branch of the gens Aurelia, from which the town then took its name.

How to orient yourself

Its municipal territory also includes the towns of Castiglione, Colle della Fonte, Le Piane, Collelungo, Livertini, Castagneto, Ferrari, Fontemonaci, San Biagio and Acquaviva.

How to get

By plane

• Rome Ciampino Airport
• Rome Fiumicino Airport

By car

• Autostrada del Sole A1, exit at Ponzano Romano - Soratte, cross Stimigliano Scalo, Castagneto and continue following the signs for Cottanello.
• From Rieti take the SP 45, cross Case San Benedetto, Contigliano and continue following the signs for Cottanello.

On the train

• Station of Poggio Mirteto (About 26 km)
• Station of Rieti (About 25 km)

By bus

• Cotral bus lines [1]

How to get around

What see

• 42.40033612.6777221 Roman villa of Cottanello. It is one of several villae rusticae dating back to the Roman age, located in the territory of Sabina. It is located in Collesecco, an agricultural area about 1 km away. from the historic center of Cottanello. It was built in the last decades of the 1st century AD. on a pre-existing structure of the Republican age.

Today it is an archaeological site entrusted to some volunteers of the Pro Loco who work in collaboration with the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Lazio.

The excavations carried out have brought to light a rectangular area of ​​about m. 37 x 45 composed of about thirty rooms, among which an atrium and a peristyle were recognizable. A large underground aqueduct was then identified on the slopes of Monte del Parro which brought water to the villa from the source in the locality of Cola Fonte.

The real extension of the villa is not yet known as the area has only been partially investigated; currently (January 2016), about 1660 square meters have emerged; from the latest surveys carried out it is believed to be more or less half of the total extension; the excavation of the housing part and part of the cryptoporticus remains to be completed.

Thanks to the most recent excavations it has been possible to reconstruct a sequence of construction phases, at least three:

a first phase, little documented, goes from the end of the 2nd to the 1st century BC; the decorative aspects of some rooms such as the cocciopesto floor and the painted plaster, suggest a building with functions that are not only rustic.

a second phase between the end of the 1st century BC and the first half of the II A.D. Considerable extensions and structural changes probably date back to this period, such as the construction of the peristyle and other reception and spa rooms.

a third phase without significant building interventions, but with frequentation until late antiquity.

The fragment of a dolium engraved with the stamp "M. Cottae" belonged to the Roman family of Aurelii Cottae, as evidenced by an unpublished epigraphic finding from the excavations of 1972.

Probably the villa was the first settlement nucleus from which the town of Cottanello originated, maintaining even in the toponym the reference to the illustrious family, the gens Aurelia, widely remembered in ancient historiography. It is supposed to have belonged to Massimo Messalino Cotta, consul in 20 AD, friend of Tiberius and author of writings on agronomy.

The plan, rather articulated, highlights a double intended use: a slave-run farm equipped for the production of food products, and a manor-type country residence, embellished with sculptural decorations, architectural terracotta and mosaic floors, excellently preserved, made with geometric mosaic with local limestone and with Cottanello red marble. One of the thresholds has figured inserts with plant motifs, another depicts a pair of chanterelles. The walls are covered with painted plaster; some remains of the clay decoration are evident. The excavation work has also returned 184 fragments of architectural terracotta such as antefixes, decorated eaves, slabs of sima, crowning and cladding, drips, etc.

The villa is part of the classic design of the Domus with an atrium. Various environments have been identified, including the atrium, a large room with a mosaic floor with white crosses on a black background; it is a Tuscan-style architecture; the rainwater collected in the quadrangular impluvium with a flat bottom in opus spicatum, and from here it was distributed to the adjacent thermal rooms by means of pipes and sewers.  

• 42.41041912.6895032 Hermitage of San Cataldo. It is difficult to establish the time of settlement of the first hermitage inside the rocky cavity, there are no certain sources; some argue that it dates back to before the 10th century, others date it back to the 11th century and describe it as a refuge and hermitage for the Benedictine monks residing in the abbey of Farfa, from which they sometimes went away to give themselves to contemplation and preaching in the territory of Cottanello. The ancient frescoes that adorn the walls are attributed to them, painted between the 12th and 13th centuries.

For centuries the sanctuary was managed by the company of Saints Andrea and Cataldo, who thanks to substantial income ensured the maintenance and regular Eucharistic celebrations; the activities almost ceased completely and the deterioration and degradation became more evident at the beginning of the nineteenth century, to worsen further in the following decades.

It is set in a natural riverbed of the mountain at about 10 m. high overhanging the provincial road 45, which in turn overlooks a steep slope whose ground plunges down to the Aia stream. The street front is simple, devoid of decorative elements, only a few small slits. A steep stone staircase, built in 1888, facilitates access to the small entrance door, surmounted by a lunette and preceded by three steps; from here the view is lost towards the ancient castle of Cottanello and goes beyond, towards Mount Soratte and the Roman and Viterbo plains.

The whole complex appears supported by a substructure characterized by three large round arches, and is dominated by a huge rock that acts as a cover. Around the forest, olive trees and wild plants. It is likely that the construction of the current provincial road in 1888 involved cuts in the rock and therefore the cancellation of ancient mule tracks also used by San Francesco to get here from Greccio, part of the so-called Way of Francis.

The small church, which was once part of a multi-room building, is 6m long. and 3.35 wide; it has an irregular shape, conditioned by the natural rock. It consists of two rooms separated by a round arch: the first is a small open-air vestibule, since over the centuries the wall that covered it and that served as an attic to the upper rooms collapsed. The walls were decorated with frescoes, but they too have been largely destroyed. On the floor there are some wooden benches available to the faithful. On the right side an ancient staircase carved into the rock leads to the upper floor.

The second room is an apsidal chapel, carved into the rock, protected by a window that recently replaced a previous wrought iron gate. The floor is raised with respect to that of the first room. The cross vault that covers it is divided into four sails within which episodes from Genesis are depicted. The space is illuminated by two windows. On the right side a small quadrangular opening bears a carved inscription at the top: "Here rested the head of San Cataldo". On the sides the depictions of the saint. On the left a large fresco of the twelfth century in Byzantine style occupies the entire wall, reproducing the Blessing Redeemer. : In the center there is a small altar with an irregular block in red Cottanello marble on top. In both rooms there are sporadic residues of painted plaster that define an ex voto context, probably shortly after the construction of the masonry works.

Upstairs there are only a small bell gable with a bronze bell and an open space overlooking the oratory, protected by a railing; a curvilinear wall interrupted by two windows, delimits the south-east side.

The frescoes

In the 17th century the ancient frescoes were covered with other Baroque style paintings. The discovery of the older ones, believed to be the oldest in the Sabina, was completely coincidental: a mine detonated by the Germans during the retreat of 1944 on the provincial road below, shattered the three superimposed layers, made in different centuries, of painted plaster. Almost all of the previous paintings resurfaced. The Superintendence of Monuments and Excavations of Rome in 1950 he took care of the restoration of the interiors and of the pictorial decorations.

The blessing Redeemer

The most important ancient fresco, dating back to the 12th century, is in Byzantine style and occupies the entire left wall of the church; it reproduces the Redeemer seated on a high throne holding a cross with his right hand and with the other, open in the Greek manner, blessing the apostles, arranged around him, six on each side. The blessing is also addressed to six saints, drawn lower down, lined up in devout recollection, preceded by the offerer of the painting. The graphic figure of the Redeemer's face recalls some Spoleto works: the crucified Christ by Alberto Sotio, preserved in the Cathedral of Spoleto, some images painted in the church of San Paolo inter vineas, others in the Basilica of San Gregorio Maggiore, still others in the crypt of Sant'Ansano.

On the right knee of the Redeemer is painted the Tau, a biblical sign of salvation, executed in tempera. Some scholars speculate that it was designed by San Francesco in 1217, when he paused for a certain period to evangelize the Sabine territory. He chose as support a refuge on the top of the Grandi mountains, where in his memory in 1712 Clement XI had a small building built.

At the bottom left, a fresco from a later period, which remained in place despite the detonation, represents the Madonna and Child. Instead, a painted image of Cottanello seen from the hermitage has been lost, shattered, documented by photos prior to 1944.

The cross vault of the chapel is decorated in Baroque style with plant motifs and some scenes from the story of Genesis, Adam and Eve in the earthly paradise. On the right vault the Virgin and Child is painted, a fresco dated 1444. On the two pillars at the entrance there are two paintings depicting Sant'Agostino and San Tommaso d'Aquino.

Important restorations, which fortunately halted the progressive deterioration of the surviving paintings, were carried out in 1950, 2005, 2008 and 2010.  

Events and parties

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Average prices

• 42.40712112.6872141 La Foresteria Atlantide Restaurant, Via Forcella, 8, ☎ 39 0746 670764. 
• 42.4100212.6650222 ^{[link not working]}Farmhouse La Locanda di Frandino, Via Collelungo, 33, ☎ 39 327 7095353, 39 0746 66180, @[email protected]. Equipped with rooms for accommodation. 

Where stay

Moderate prices

• 42.40765512.6863541 ^{[link not working]}Le Prata Youth Hostel, via Palombara 15, ☎ 39 0746 66103, 39 330 293898, fax: 39 0746 670783, @[email protected]. 

Average prices

• 42.40624712.686272 Cavour Residence, Vicolo Cavour 9 (in the historic center), ☎ 39 333 3228736. Renovated rooms in a 17th century residence. 
• 42.4088312.6874583 ^{[link not working]}Holiday home "Casa d'Artista", Via Fontecerro 10, ☎ 39 349 4025829, @[email protected]. Rent of rooms 
• 42.42727212.6683554 Location Villa Miravalle, Via Nocemonte 28 (Contrada Castiglione), ☎ 39 0746 66261, 39 333 3297300. Guest houses 

Safety

• 42.40726912.6872831 Sant'Andrea Pharmacy, via Forcella 18, ☎ 39 0746 66207. 

How to keep in touch

Post office

• 42.4055612.6852582 Italian post, Via della Promenade 6, ☎ 39 0746 66225. Tue-Fri-Sat. Tel. 

Internet

• Free Internet Point in the Internet room of the Municipal Library.

Around

• Contigliano - The religious complex of the Abbey of San Pastore is not among the best known of the Holy Valley, but it is still a place of great charm and spirituality.
• Greccio - San Francesco left the Franciscan Abbey there as a tangible trace; as a spiritual legacy the memory of the first representation of the Living Nativity, which is repeated annually.
• Rieti - Considered by the authors of the classical age the geographical center of Italy (Umbilicus Italiae) was founded at the beginning of the Iron Age and became an important city of the Sabines; still today its territory is identified as "Sabina".
• Waterfall marmore - Spectacular waterfall on the border between Umbria is Lazio, created by the deviation of the Velino river in Roman times, it is the destination of an enormous flow of tourists who admire this marvel of nature of undeniable charm.

Itineraries

Franciscan sanctuaries in the Rieti plain - A path of nature, faith and art in the Sabina crossed by San Francesco, to visit the four Sanctuaries of the Holy Valley: Greccio, Poggio Bustone, The Forest, Fonte Colombo.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Cottanello
• Commons contains images or other files on Cottanello

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