Sessa Aurunca in età romana
Posizionata al confine con il Lazio, Sessa Aurunca è una cittadina in provincia di Caserta che conserva le vestigia di un passato glorioso lungo tremila anni.
In epoca romana si accedeva alla città attraverso il Ponte degli Aurunci, detto Ponte Ronaco, che collegava l’antica città con la via Appia. La testimonianza forse più importante di epoca romana è il maestoso teatro. Di epoca augustea, fu ampliato e ristrutturato nel II secolo dopo Cristo per desiderio di Matidia Minore, cognata dell’imperatore Adriano. Diversi reperti testimoniano la ricchezza dei decori e la magnificenza del teatro, conservati oggi in una sala espositiva presso il Castello ducale, dove spicca la statua di Matidia minore, raffigurata come un’Aura con magnifici marmi bianchi e bigi.
Della Sessa romana si conservano altre importanti testimonianze, come il Criptoportico, un edificio probabilmente ad uso pubblico, databile intorno al I secolo dopo Cristo. In quello che è stato identificato come il foro, si conserva un ambiente recentemente restaurato: l’Aerarium-tabularium, di epoca adrianea. Il luogo era probabilmente adibito alla custodia dei tesori e dell’archivio della città.
Piranesi's People: Ruins of a Covered Portico, Villa of Domitian
Avanzi d'un portico coperto, o criptoportico in una Villa di Domiziano (Ruins of a Covered Portico in a Villa of Domitian)
Dr Colin Holden, Exhibition curator of Rome: Piranesi's vision, discusses how this Piranesi print of a ruined villa represents the folly and delusive nature of unrestrained ambition and power.
'Piranesi's People' is a series of 10 short videos that bring to life the detail in unforgettable images of classical and baroque Rome by 18th-century master-printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi.
Rome: Piranesi's vision ( is a free exhibition on display at the State Library of Victoria from 22 February to 22 June 2014, presented in partnership with the University Library, University of Melbourne.
TRANSCRIPT
'Avanzi d'un portico coperto, o criptoportico in una Villa di Domiziano' (Ruins of a Covered Portico in a Villa of Domitian)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1765--78 impression, etching and engraving, from 'Vedute di Roma', 1748--78, Rare Books collection, State Library of Victoria
We are in open countryside, out of the city. It is a warm day, and in the almost relentlessly clear light, the distance fades into a shimmering haze. It is the kind of weather that doesn't encourage too much effort. Between the remains of what was once a massive covered way, two men walk in a leisurely fashion. Close to us, on the right, are two rural men. One is seated on the ground; he might be playing some kind of folk instrument. Near him on our left, another man appears to be in conversation with him. Other rural peasants can be seen further over -- one propped up against monumental remains, armed with a staff; and a little further back, another man also armed with a staff, herding goats.
Eighteenth-century visitors to Rome commented on the poverty of rural people living in surrounding hill country. They were generally totally illiterate and uneducated. Once on a rural sketching trip, Piranesi was nearly killed by people like these, who were convinced that he was a wizard, performing magic rituals involving paper.
But this is far more than simply a snapshot of rural life. Piranesi and his contemporaries believed that these remains were part of a villa built for the emperor Domitian. Identified as a ruthless, if effective, and cruel ruler; he died in 96 AD. Although this villa was actually built several decades later, when Domitian was dead, its identification with this emperor made its ruins into a powerful symbol of the folly and delusive nature of unrestrained ambition and power. The man on the right may be conversing with his musical companion, but as he gestures towards the massive ruins, he is like a human question mark. He seems to be asking: what price glory? Instead of just giving us glimpses of rural life, this and many other prints by Piranesi ultimately raise moral questions.