Andante Travels

Introduction

The countryside south of Rome, stretching from the rugged high Apennines to the Mediterranean coast, is idyllically beautiful in places and has always provided a bucolic contrast to
the city of Rome. A broad coastal plain, surrounded by and enclosing, hills and mountains, it offered the perfect surrounding for holiday and retirement homes for the great and the good of ancient Rome: country estates and grand villas.

Many of the emperors had villas in this area, and two have survived particularly well - Hadrian’s at Tivoli and Tiberius’ at Sperlonga. These dictators left Rome for the seclusion of the hills and respite of the sea, and the region is now recognised as fundamental to our understanding of Roman culture. It includes surviving stretches of the Via Appia, oracular and healing sanctuaries, palatial villas and towns. Several main roads to Rome pass through this land, and control of the
routeways provided opportunities for wealth and power. Most important was the Via Appia, principal road to the south, but the Latina, Salaria and Valeria Ways were also vital arteries.

We end with a visit to the harbour city of Ostia, through which passed all the supplies for the hungry population of the largest city in the known world, and whose remains rival those of Pompeii in their completeness. It provides a fitting finale for an enlightening journey which puts the city and the Empire into its physical context.

Itinerary

 Day One
Arrive Rome and drive to hotel near Gaeta.

Day Two
Terracina was an important Roman town on the Via Appia, main roadway to the rich southern lands of Campania. This still runs through the centre of the modern town, and the forum survives under the Piazza del Municipio (above right). The nearby sanctuary of Jupiter Anxur overlooks the walls and the town, and there are wonderful coastal views from here. After lunch we visit the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga, including the dining room set into a large cave on the beach, as described by Suetonius: ‘Tiberius was dining in a palace called Speluncae near Terracina, when several huge rocks fell accidentally from above, killing several fellow-diners and servants. He himself was lucky to escape.’ (Life of Tiberius 39). The museum houses some exceptional sculptures.

Day Three
Visit the famous gardens at Ninfa, which overlie a former medieval town. The ruins were landscaped into botanical gardens during the 1920s, and it is now one of the best gardens in Europe, as well as having impressive medieval remains. Climb from the Pontine plain to the Roman colony at Norba where the views are magnificent.

Day Four
Roman colony of Minturnae, where we see the well-preserved aqueduct, a section of the Via Appia, and theatre, and other features of Roman urbanism. As well as having impressive Roman ruins, it is an attractive town today. Fregellae, destroyed by Rome in 125 BC and the site of three decades of recent excavations. A number of Roman houses are now visible and the finds are in the nearby museum.  We also visit Alatri, city of the Hernici, who, as loyal allies of Rome, had a relatively quiet life. The principal ancient monuments are the two sets of walls made of polygonal masonry, very well-preserved and perhaps the best examples of their kind in Italy. The larger set is the city wall 4 km in length.

Day Five
Hadrian’s so-called villa near Tivoli is carefully set in the beautiful foothills of the Sabine Hills which have, throughout history, been a favourite retreat for Roman seeking to escape the oppressively unpleasant climate of a Roman summer. This really is an innovative and extravagant architectural complex of buildings which reflected the Emperor’s interests in travel and culture, and which in turn influenced later architects.
‘He built up his villa at Tibur in a marvellous manner, and even went so far as to apply the highly renowned names of provinces and places to the different parts of it, such as the Lyceum, the  Acadamy, the Prytaneum, the Poikile and Tempe. And, in order that he should omit nothing, he even made ‘infernal regions’. Historia Augusta, Hadrian 26,5.
Afternoon free in Tivoli, where you may visit the Villa d’Este, residence of the Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, built in an old convent, and famous for its gardens.

Day Six
Into the mountains to Alba Fucens, built over three hills and blocking the main route to the Adriatic. The large site stretches over a hill with three spurs, and some of its Roman remains were later incorporated into medieval fortifications, hence the good state of preservation. This journey into the hills is often mentioned as a highlight by guests on this tour

Day Seven
Sanctuary and 2nd century BC temple of Juno at Gabii. It lay on the shore of a lake, now dry, and was an important settlement from the 9th century BC until the Roman period. Palestrina, ancient Praeneste, was dominated by the huge Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, constructed during the late 2nd or early 1st century BC when concrete was the new experimental material, allowing an innovative design over several terraces. It is most famous for a huge mosaic depicting scenes of life beside and on the Nile, removed from the site to a nearby palazzo in the 17th century, which is now a museum.

Day Eight
Morning visit to Ostia Antica, the harbour city at the mouth of the Tiber - a classic site to rival even Pompeii. The surviving buildings comprise not only the usual public edifices expected in a Roman city, but warehouses and headquarters for traders - the famous Piazzale dei Corporazioni has black and white mosaics announcing the city from which they came and the goods in which they traded - a valuable insight into how the Empire worked.  There are also bars to keep the sailors and customers happy and luxurious villas presumably belonging to wealthy merchants. Continue to the airport for flight home.

Included

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Scheduled Flights London to Rome
• Local Travel Private a/c coach.
• Meals All meals included (dinners with wine and water) except lunch Days 1, 5 & 8 and dinner Day 6
• Guide Lecturer Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"!  The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards.  There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that. They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you.  After 22 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them.  If you would like to know more about Richard Wallace, please click his name.
• Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour.  They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
• Fieldnotes written for the tour.
• Entry to all sites in programme.
  
• Tips included.

Flights & Visa

Scheduled flights from London to Rome - details to be confirmed 

Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)*

Notes:  Passport must be valid for the duration of your stay.

Hotels

3 nights in a lovely hotel in Gaeta, built on the site of a 1st century villa overlooking the sea;
4 nights in a hotel in the centre of Frascati

Comments

What Did You Enjoy Most About This Tour?

Visiting sites previously unknown. Comfortable hotels to return to at the end of the day. Usual ‘Andante’ friendly crows. Good, lucid lecturer.

Having time to explore sites on our own after the talk and initial tour, with Richard.

1. The wild flowers.

Ninfa Gardens. Fregellae, Alba, Fuecens and Ostia laid out in a well spaced tour without excessive travelling.
 

1. Richard Wallace’s scholarly but light hearted commentary and exegesis.
2. The picnic at the museum Ceprano was a unique experience, and it was wonderful to meet the staff and be treated as honoured guests. It nearly matched the BBQ up a mountain in Turkey with descendents of Alexander’s legions.
3. The meal at Alba Fucens.
4. Ninfa and Vila d’Este.
5. The Orchid Hunt.

Sites are interesting and varied.

The content of the sites and knowledge of guest lecturer.

I enjoyed the tour immensely. It was very relaxed, the countryside was so beautiful and the sites quiet – except Hadrian’s Villa! It is always busy.

Richard’s lectures.

Richard Wallace’s humour and enthusiasm for sharing his deeper than usual explanations of such diverse topics as the chemistry of concrete and the alignment of early Christian churches.

Richard’s humour, knowledge and consideration.

 

Reading List

This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over.

Guide Lecturer's Choice: (if you only want to read one or two books)

T Holland (2003) Rubicon, (Little, Brown) ISBN 034911563X (The towns visited in this tour were deeply involved in the civil wars which destroyed the Roman Republic; this book is an excellent, readable, non-technical introduction to the intricate events of this complex period)

Lindsey Davis (2005) Scandal Takes A Holiday (Arrow Books) ISBN 0099445271. A novel in the Falco series set largely in Ostia.

Background Reading

T.J. Cornell (1995) The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, (Routledge). ISBN 0415015960 (The best general introduction to early Roman history)).

T W Potter (1992) Roman Italy, (University of California Press) ISBN 0520069757. (This book is now out of print, but Amazon.co.uk claims that it has second-hand copies)

Further Reading

C.J. Smith (1995) Early Rome and Latium: Economy and Society 1000 to 500 BC, (Oxford University Press). ISBN 0198150318 (only available second-hand)

R. Ross Holloway (1994) The Archaeology of Early Rome and Latium, (Routledge). ISBN 0415143608

Guide Books

There is no good guidebook which covers the whole area of the tour. Sections of it are to be found in the Blue Guides to Southern Italy and Rome.

A (very) brief account of most of the sites visited can be found in:

D Facaros & M Pauls (2000) Rome and the Heart of Italy (Cadogan Guides). ISBN 1860119565

Several of the sites visited are covered in the excellent (and strongly recommended):

F Coarelli (2007) Rome and Environs: an archaeological guide (University of California Press) ISBN 9780520079618

Ancient Texts

The importance of this region for the Romans' perception of themselves means that it features frequently in their literature. Those wishing to explore some of these texts might try reading (selectively) some of the following (all in Penguin translation; the Penguin volume titles are those cited):

Virgil, The Aeneid (The Roman national epic; books 7-12 are those relevant to this tour, though it is a pity to pass over the first half of the poem. The prose translation of David West is strongly recommended - ISBN 0140444572)

Livy, The Early History of Rome (This Penguin volume covers books 1-5 of Livy's history, and contains most of the legendary stories of early Rome; it is not the most exciting of reads, but is the starting point for most discussion of early Latium)

Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome and The Histories (These two works by the most penetrating and cynical of Roman historians covers the early imperial period, but needs to be read very selectively)

Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (This collection of biographies by a well-informed but uncritical and unscrupulous scandalmonger is the source of a surprising number of frequently repeated factoids on imperial Rome; the Penguin translation by Robert Graves is disgracefully bad but, regrettably, seductively readable)

Map

Lazio (1: 200,000) Touring Club Italiano.  ISBN 8836517293

.......................................................................................................................

Travel books

We recommend to you a publishing company with a mission to keep the classic works of travel literature in print. Eland and Sickle Moon Books produce an excellent catalogue of travellers' literature, old and new.

+44 (0) 20 7833 0762 - www.travelbooks.co.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Archaeology books

Oxbow Books, based in Oxford, are suppliers of probably the biggest range of archaeology and history books. They produce a quarterly catalogue, and can be contacted on

+44 (0)1865 241249 - www.oxbowbooks.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

It also always worth exploring www.abebooks.co.uk and www.museumbooks.demon.co.uk for new, secondhand and out-of-print books.

Please bear in mind that ISBNs refer to specific editions; other editions of certain titles may be available.

Book Now