Standing on the highest of the large fortress, trying over the rolling panorama, it’s simple to see why Nepi was a prized possession for Roman emperors, medieval popes and Renaissance dynasties. Defended on two sides by river channels and with a commanding place over wealthy agricultural land and plentiful water springs, the city, lower than an hour north of Rome, has been a witness and a contributor to historical past for over two millennia.
A lot of that historical past has been marked by intrigue, violence and conflict. Most famously, Nepi was dominated by the Fifteenth-century Spanish cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who gave it to his daughter Lucrezia after he grew to become Pope Alexander VI. Lucrezia stayed on the fortress (in the present day often known as the Borgia Fortress) following the homicide of her second husband in 1500. As of late, issues are much more laid-back. I’m sitting exterior the Bar Centrale within the city’s elegant Piazza del Comune, going through the imposing city corridor, constructed on the orders of the Farnese household after they took up residence right here within the mid-1500s. With me is Paolo Paoletti, who has simply been elected for a second time period as Nepi’s councillor accountable for tradition and tourism. Whereas I sip an espresso and tuck right into a cream-filled pastry, Paolo tells me about his plans to develop tourism right here and throughout the Tuscia area.
As soon as the land of the Etruscans, Tuscia roughly corresponds to what’s now northern Lazio. Nepi lies at its coronary heart, about 31 miles (50km) from the capital. Paolo’s ambition is to attach it with different native cities to create a tourism community that may allow guests to expertise Tuscia’s historic, cultural and pure points of interest. The event of a net portal is a primary step. This may place Nepi because the hub of what Paolo laughingly calls “Tuscialand”. However he’s additionally acutely aware of the necessity to shield Tuscia’s relaxed, conventional lifestyle from waves of invasive tourism which have lately overwhelmed many Italian cities and cities. Nepi’s 50-plus B&Bs and short-stay residences are small-scale affairs run by native individuals, and Paolo desires them to remain that manner. “It’s essential to get the understanding and assist of the neighborhood,” he says, “in order that guests really feel welcome however residents don’t really feel threatened.”
I’m staying in a palatial 18th-century condominium, conveniently positioned above the Bar Centrale. Homeowners Alessia and Francesco already run the Loft Delle Scalette on the opposite aspect of the piazza, and they’re planning to supply this three-bedroomed area for vacationer lodging early subsequent yr.
After a second cream pastry, Paolo whisks me off to the neighbouring city of Castel Sant’Elia. We make the brief journey by automobile, however we may simply have walked the 2 miles. Throughout Tuscia there are paths, trails and historic Roman roads preferrred for strolling, trekking and biking. With loads of sunshine and temperatures reaching a cushty 20C, early autumn is the right time to discover the area’s spectacular panorama and to identify wildlife equivalent to porcupines, wild boars, peregrine falcons and black kites.
Nepi itself is edged on two sides by a deep gorge shaped by river channels operating by means of the volcanic rock of the Cimini and Sabatini Hills. Past, the expansive and undulating countryside is carpeted with fields and woods, and criss-crossed with streams and waterfalls.
One of many trails takes you thru the Suppentonia valley to Castel Sant’Elia’s Eleventh-century basilica, the place we meet Paolo’s reverse quantity, councillor Cecilia Paolucci. She factors out a fresco stuffed with scenes from the Apocalypse of Saint John. The saint is related to the winter solstice, and yearly at daybreak on 21 or 22 December daylight enters every of the excessive home windows on the left of the basilica, making a mystical illumination.
A special type of surprise is on supply on the Villa Farnese at Caprarola, about 12 miles to the south. Towering over the city and the encircling volcanic hills, the villa was constructed by the Farneses as an announcement of their wealth and energy. The interiors are lined with frescos glorifying the dynasty, whereas the sprawling gardens embrace a monumental cascade, an eerie hedge-and-statue quadrangle and a wooded secret backyard.
Again in Nepi, it’s time to discover the traditional catacombs. Like Rome’s extra well-known underground chambers, these have been initially scooped out of tufa rock for burials slightly than for secret spiritual conferences. The multistorey niches as soon as housed round 1,000 corpses. A number of bones nonetheless stay, along with some pale work and black crosses marked on the partitions with the smoke of oil lamps.
after e-newsletter promotion
From there it’s a brief stroll to the baroque splendour of Nepi’s cathedral, the place we uncover the city’s English connection. A marble plaque in Latin information the presence within the cathedral of what are claimed to be a pair of relics – lengthy since misplaced – of Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury. Close by is a portrait of Saint Romanus, who, together with Ptolemy, is the city’s patron saint. However Romanus’s face is that of Reginald Pole, “Bloody” Mary Tudor’s distant cousin and archbishop of Canterbury throughout her tried Catholic reconversion of England. In Henry VIII’s reign (in 1532) Pole went into exile in Rome, the place he was made a cardinal and given the governorship of Bagnoregio, the so-called “dying city” perched precariously on high of an eroding hill.
The English have been coming right here for hundreds of years: first, as pilgrims on their strategy to Rome; then as grand vacationers. JMW Turner frolicked in Nepi in 1819 and once more in 1828. He sketched and painted a number of views (now within the Tate Gallery in London) of the cathedral, the fort, the 18th-century aqueduct and the close by waterfall. He doubtless sampled Nepi’s well-known mineral water, which is sourced and bottled right here. Possibly the water provide has one thing to do with Tuscia’s status for producing musical expertise. Baroque composer Domenico Massenzio was born in Ronciglione, whereas his up to date Alessandro Stradella grew up in Nepi. Each are celebrated at an annual music pageant (which runs in September).
It’s time for lunch, so Paolo takes me to La Corte, a wise however relaxed restaurant immediately reverse the fort. Chef Gabriele Zampaletta is readily available to advise and put together a variety of Tuscian dishes utilizing seasonal produce from the native space. If the usually rustic tagliere board of meats and cheeses (together with pecorino romano produced from sheep’s milk) doesn’t attraction, then strive the panzanella – bread items soaked in sulphate water (from Nepi, in fact), combined with tomatoes, herbs, olive oil and slices of Nepi’s homegrown number of flat, candy onion. It’s genuine, unpretentious and moreish – very similar to this undiscovered a part of Italy.
The journey was supplied by the Comune di Nepi. The Loft Delle Scalette condominium and annexe prices round €90 (£75) an evening
