LAZIO

LAZIO. -

I. GEOGRAPHY

Originally applied to a small territory south of Rome, this name now denotes the southernmost region of central Italy. It comprises, in addition to the Lazio of a little over twenty years ago: 1) the Sabina, a hilly-mountainous region centered on Rieti, previously attached to Umbria, separated in 1923 and established as a province; 2) a strip of the Aquilan Abruzzo (the former district of Cittaducale), transferred to the same province; 3) the northern part of Campania on the right bank of the Garigliano, which, together with part of the old province of Rome, formed the new (1934) province of Littoria, later renamed Latina.

Thus Lazio has come to include districts that are quite diverse in their natural and human characteristics: the bare, arid Apennine mountains of the Simbruini, Ernici, and Meta ranges; the volcanic anti-Apennine complex (Volsini, Cimini, Sabatini, Albani) and the limestone complex (Lepini, Ausoni, and Aurunci) closer to the sea; the Roman countryside and the Roman ager.

The area north of the lower Tiber, between the anti-Apennines and the sea, is known as the Tuscia Romana and extends as far as the Fiora River. This latter region, mostly covered with scrub and woodland, gives way inland to the pleasant landscape of volcanic lakes (Bolsena, Vico, and Bracciano), surrounded by chestnut groves and vineyards and continuing beyond the Tiber and Rome in the Alban Hills. The valleys of the Aniene (Tivoli area) and the Sacco (Ciociaria) are also rich in vines and olives, while in the Rieti basin, traversed by the Velino, cereal cultivation predominates. The coastline is generally low, straight, and lacking in natural harbors; the only natural roadstead (utilized for military purposes) is that of Gaeta. The coastal plain, partly below sea level and covered with marshes due to inadequate drainage, has been reclaimed in recent decades and thus opened to large-scale agricultural colonization.

Overall, Lazio has a predominantly agricultural, forestry, and pastoral economy (41.7% of the population engaged in these activities). Among cereals (including maize), wheat predominates; among tree crops, vines (usually specialized) are followed by olives and fruit trees. Notable are the harvests of potatoes, sugar beets, and artichokes (the latter accounting for one-quarter of national production). In livestock farming, sheep are prominent, especially in the hilly areas. Industrial development has been slow but has accelerated in recent years, particularly to meet the needs of Rome’s large urban center.

No inhabited center, apart from the capital, reaches 50,000 inhabitants. The only major seaport is Civitavecchia, the terminal for communications with Sardinia.

Property and trade (especially in the provinces)

Provinces and capitals (population 1936, in thousands)

Provinces and capit

LAZIO – Ecclesiastical region of Lazio: 1. regional boundary; 2. provincial boundary; 3. ecclesiastical district boundary; 4. roads; 5. railways; 6. oratory.

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Rectors, appointed by the Bishop of Rome, were placed over these territories, enabling the papacy to challenge effectively the exercise of authority by the Emperor of the East, especially in the 8th century when the donations of Liutprand (728–42) recognized the Roman pontificate’s political character, reinforced by Stephen II’s journey to France and by Pippin’s Donation.

This political character led—from the late 700s onward—to repeated clashes between local autonomous elements and the papacy’s centralizing will, which, particularly through the efforts of Zachary and Hadrian I, relied on the numerous *domus cultae*. A noble revolt erupted during the pontificate of Leo III. The *domus cultae* consisted of numerous rural estates with scattered dwellings, administered by the Church; the coloni had a certain military organization and used a special coinage, more or less authorized or recognized by the pope.

After the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, the Emperor and the Pope clashed because both sought to send their own representatives into the Patrimony; the dispute was resolved in favor of the Bishop of Rome, who, in the 9th century, continued to appoint his own officials to administer justice. Over time—during the first half of the 10th century—the *Comites Campaniae* appeared, governors appointed, perhaps for life, by the pope, who extended his influence over the cities through judges chosen by the *Comites*.

Alongside and in correlation with the growth and differentiation of the ruling class, a movement of agricultural expansion and intensified building activity emerged in the second half of the 10th century and even more so in subsequent periods. Simultaneously, from the lesser feudal society, from lay administrators of ecclesiastical estates, from papal officials in the various centers, and perhaps even from free workers, there arose families that, sometimes in consortia, became owners of mills or extensive lands. Serving these landowning families was a large number of peasants bound to them and to the land they cultivated by more or less strict and burdensome ties. Yet it is clear that even in the Patrimony of St. Peter—beginning in the 10th century—the ancient serfs gradually gained their freedom, securing more favorable contractual forms and rising toward small property ownership, though without forming the guilds that flourished in the cities and often wielded considerable influence in government.

While the first stirrings of urban life—from which the communal regime would later emerge—can be traced back to the 9th and even 10th centuries, the papacy’s political authority in Lazio was strengthened in the 13th century by the failure of imperial efforts in Tuscia and Sabina. In 1268, the Battle of Tagliacozzo crowned the work of Urban IV, who sought to reorganize the Patrimony. More than anyone else, Boniface VIII (1294–1303) devoted himself to this task. He relied especially on the communes, for after striking at the great noble families of the countryside, he could only seek support from the people against any possible baronial resurgence, offering in return the backing of papal authority to the emerging civic organizations.

Later—during the Avignon papacy—the rectors of the Patrimony were forced to maintain a constant balance amid persistent factional divisions, which now seemed ripe for resolution. After the Western Schism and the incursions of Ladislaus, during the pontificates of Innocent VII (1404–1406) and Gregory XII (1407–1417), the lands of the province submitted to Alexander V (1409–1410), who occupied Viterbo, Montefiascone, and Corneto. The work of reorganizing and subjugating the Patrimony continued under Nicholas V (1447–1455) and Pius II (1458–1464). The latter subdued Sabina, occupied Palombara, and eliminated the threat posed by Piccinino’s ambitions. Pius II’s work was completed by Paul II (1464–1471), who extended his authority over the entire Patrimony.

From the late 15th century onward, the history of Lazio can no longer be treated in isolation but must be framed within the history of the Papal States and, indeed, of united Italy.

It remains only to recall the efforts made to reclaim unhealthy zones, as this is now the region’s sole distinguishing feature.

III. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

The L. is a privileged region because it contains Rome, the primatial see where the successor of St Peter resides. From the 5th century the Latium vetus and the Latium adiectum were distinguished, while the north-western part of Rome belonged to Tuscia.

Towards the end of the century, and even more so in the 12th, the popes (Callistus II, Honorius II, Eugenius III and others) energetically set about reorganizing their dominion: indeed, having determined the boundaries of certain cities, including Velletri, they decreed that these should provide soldiers at the Church’s request and send representatives to the Parliaments. Innocent III brought even the Senate of Rome under his influence, to which various cities were bound, among them Viterbo. In 1207 the Pontiff reorganized the provinces of the Patrimony, exacted oaths of fealty from the counts, barons and representatives of the communes, and finally proclaimed a general peace, dissolving all leagues. Innocent III also convened a general Parliament at Viterbo to increase the authority of the rectors; and since these were thus drawn to place themselves under the protection of the Pontiff, his influence over the Patrimony was greatly enhanced, especially as he was the sole judge in disputes between rectors and provincial parliamentarians.

In 1231 the papacy intervened to resolve the fiscal and military-service disputes dividing the two classes of milites and pedites in the communes surrounding Rome, through an arbitration that was decisively favourable to the milites, on whom the pope thus assumed a strong hold.

In the first half of the 3rd century, during the long period of peace that preceded the persecution of Decius, the organization must have become better defined and several churches established. After the death of Fabian the Roman clergy...

In the first half of the...

churches, one can almost certainly admit the existence of the churches of Ostia, Porto, Albano, Palestrina, Terracina, Labico and Formia. To these churches belong the martyrs attested by reliable documents, such as Asterius, Cyriacus and Aurea for Ostia; Ariston, Nonnus, Herculanus, Taurinus, Eutropius, Bonosa and Zosimus for Porto; Secondus, Carpophore, Victorinus and Severianus for Albano; Agapitus for Palestrina; Alexander, Magnus, Erasmus and others elsewhere.

After the Constantinian peace the churches multiplied ever more, and in the synods held under the popes Julius (340), Damasus (372) and Siricius (386) many bishops of the L. were present; to this period belong the churches of Tivoli, Anzio, Velletri, Segni, Bolsena, Tarquinia, etc.

In the 5th and 6th centuries the churches of the L. suffered the sad vicissitudes of the barbarian invasions that afflicted Rome, with destructions, sackings, devastations and changes; but at the beginning of the 7th century the L. counted about 30 constituted dioceses.

With the advent of the Middle Ages religious life flourished in the L. in its most typical manifestations.

Famous monasteries populated the region: Subiaco, Farfa, S. Silvestro on Monte Soratte – where in the 8th century Carloman retired – Casamari, Fossanova, to mention only the most celebrated outside Rome and its immediate vicinity. Colonies of Greek monks also settled in the L. (Grottaferrata, Valvisciolo), which intensified and exercised wide influence during the outbreaks of Byzantine struggles in the periods of iconoclasm and schism.

In addition to the monasteries there are the shrines that from the late Middle Ages began to attract pilgrims, such as the Madonna del Buon Consiglio at Genazzano, the Christ of Sutri, the Most Holy Trinity at Monte Autore, S. Maria della Quercia and S. Maria Capodacqua. A characteristic group is formed by the Franciscan shrines of the Rieti valley (Greccio, Fontecolombo, Poggio Bustone, La Foresta), which are linked to St Francis who, after Umbria, left the richest traces of his passage in the L.

Prominent figures of this period include the saints who illuminated the region: Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Thomas Aquinas, Rose of Viterbo. Later came St Hyacinth Marescotti and in more recent centuries the blessed Charles of Sezze and Thomas of Cori, St Joseph of Leonessa, St Felix of Cantalice, St Paul of the Cross, etc.

During the frequent uprisings and revolts of the Roman populace in the 12th-14th centuries various cities of the L. welcomed the popes, who adorned and fortified them, such as Anagni and Viterbo. Finally, with the subjugation of the entire region, its fortunes became entwined with those of the Papal State, of which the L. formed two legations.

It is the region that possessed and still possesses more episcopal sees than any other; the continuous relations with the centre of the Empire favoured this numerous development. Many of these sees have now disappeared. In the Latium vetus there were the sees of Subaugusta, Labicum, Gabii, Treba Augusta, Nomentum and Ficulea. In the Latium adiectum: Antium, Tres Tabernae, Fundi, Formiae, Minturnum, Casinum, Frusino and Atina. In Etruria: Lorium, Caere, Aquaviva, Faleria, Vulsinii, Ferentum and Forum Clodii.

Today, besides the suburbicarian sees (v.) of Frascati, Ostia, Palestrina, Porto and S. Rufina, Magliano and Poggio Mirteto, Velletri (whose incumbent is a cardinal of the Curia), the region is divided into Upper Latium and Lower Latium. Upper Latium comprises the sees of Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Civita Castellana, Orte and Gallese, Montefiascone, Nepi and Sutri, Tarquinia and Civitavecchia, Viterbo and Tuscania, S. Martino al Monte Cimino (abbatia nullius), the abbazie nullius of S. Paolo fuori le mura, SS. Vincent and Anastasius alle Tre Fontane and S. Anselmo. Lower Latium includes the sees of Alatri, Anagni, Aquino-Sora and Pontecorvo, Ferentino, Segni, Terracina, Sezze and Priverno, Tivoli, Veroli; the abbazie nullius of S. Maria di Grottaferrata, Subiaco and Monte Cassino. In the vicariate of the Urbe is the regional ecclesiastical tribunal for matrimonial causes, which also serves as an appellate tribunal for the regional tribunals of Naples and Cagliari (cf. Pius XI, motu proprio Quanta cura, 8 Dec. 1938, in AAS, 30 [1938], pp. 310-13).

IV. Art

Apart from Rome (q.v.), a most lively center of artistic culture, the region is in itself of notable importance for the number and value of the monuments it still preserves. Its artistic production, however, does not have, at least until the Baroque period, a unified character; this is due in the first place to the Roman traditionalism of the Middle Ages, which on the one hand prevented the unification of regional forms and on the other lacked sufficient expansive force, then to the immigration of foreign artists, especially during the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, and finally to the differing cultural conditions of the areas to the north and south of the city.

Of the Paleo-Christian period, few remains survive: the colonnades of the Constantinian Basilica in the cathedral of Albano, a triconch of uncertain date beneath the church of the Carità in Tivoli, the remains of the basilica of St. Sinfarosa on the Via Tiburtina and of the basilica of Pammachius at Porto. The contributions of the architectural culture of the Maestri Comacini are instead represented in the region by the oldest section of St. Peter’s in Tuscania.

In the Romanesque age, many churches retained the basilican plan with colonnades, with or without a transept and roofed with a timber ceiling (Castel Sant’Elia, St. Anastasius; Nazzano, St. Antimo; Fiano, St. Sisto; Bassanello, St. Salvatore; Monteleone Sabino, St. Vittoria; Magliano, St. Peter; Palombara, St. John in Argentella; Tivoli, Carità; Ferentino, Cathedral; Terracina, Cathedral, etc.). There are also simpler buildings with a single nave, with or without a transept and always covered by a visible timber roof (Capena, St. Leo; Orvino, St. Mary of the Hill; Ponticelli, St. Mary of the Hill; St. Mary in Vescovo, etc.).

The forms proper to Romanesque architecture sometimes appear in very interesting ways as early as the 11th century in St. Flavian’s in Montefiascone and with decidedly Lombard accents in St. Mary of Castello in Tarquinia. Thus they spread very early in the region but were adopted more for their ornamental characteristics than for their constructive ones. In Viterbo, under the combined influence of Lombard and Roman styles, a vigorous and original local architecture developed (Cathedral, St. Sisto, St. Mary Major, St. John in Zoccoli) which also spread to nearby centers (Tarquinia, Tuscania, Vetralla). Tarquinia also adopted Siculo-Arab styles (St. James), Tuscania combined Tuscan, Umbrian, and Roman elements in the façades of its principal churches (St. Peter, St. Mary Major); the Umbrian taste for horizontal cornices spread throughout the upper Lazio; Nannese styles recur in a group of churches in the Sabina (Montebuono, Tarano, Fianello); hints of southern, especially Campanian, taste mingle in southern Lazio with Lombard (Anagni) and Roman (Terracina) forms. The Benedictine architecture leaves its most praiseworthy work in St. Mary the Free in Aquino and dazzling sparks give an original character to the architecture of Gaeta. A classic symbol, at once vigorous and picturesque, is presented by the works of the Cosmati (q.v.), such as the portico of Civita Castellana and the cloister of St. Scholastica in Subiaco.

Gothic arrived in southern Lazio between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century with the abbeys of Fossanova and Casamari in a form at once temperate and pure. Various buildings then arose more or less stylistically dependent on those prototypes: St. Mary in Flumine in Ceccano, the abbey of Valvisciolo, St. Francis and St. Mary Major in Ferentino, the church of Amasen, the cathedral of Priverno, the transept of that of Anagni, etc. The new style reached as far as the gates of Rome with St. Nicholas on the Via Appia. A little later, the abbey of St. Martin at Cimino exercised a similar influence in northern Lazio (Viterbo, cloister of St. Mary in Gradi, St. Francis; Montefiascone, extension of St. Flavian; Tarquinia, St. John, etc.). In Rieti, the portico of the Cathedral and the churches of St. Peter, St. Dominic, and St. Augustine have Gothicizing forms and also adopt the Aquilan type of façade with a straight cornice. These styles persisted throughout the 14th century and even into the next at Amatrice (St. Francis, St. Augustine). At Cittaducale (St. Mary of the People) and at Leonessa, where indeed the latest examples of Gothic are found. The phenomenon is repeated in a less accentuated form in lower Lazio, where at Fondi a group of churches the 15th-century phase is closely linked to that of two centuries earlier. Interesting complexes of medieval civil architecture are preserved at Viterbo, Tarquinia, Tuscania, Tivoli, Segni, Anagni, Ferentino, etc.; among the public palaces, those of Anagni, Priverno, and Viterbo should be noted; Genazzano, on the other hand, offers a homogeneous group of civil buildings in southern Gothic taste dating to the early 15th century. Romanesque sculpture is generally limited to decorative works; Cosmatesque styles spread throughout the region, merging in southern Lazio with Campanian forms akin but distinct in their taste for color and their manner of ornamentation. In the late 13th century, the theme of the tomb was widely treated in the Viterbo area; the most interesting example is that of Adrian V (Viterbo, St. Francis), in which Arnold of Camerino may perhaps have collaborated. Wooden sculpture boasts examples of great consistency, such as the Madonna of Acuto from the 13th century, now in the Museum of Palazzo Venezia in Rome, or of refined execution such as the Deposition group from the cathedral of Tivoli.

Roman painting of the 11th century spread through the region in vast cycles, such as those of St. Anastasius in Castel Sant’Elia, where linear schematism assumes a particular power of suggestion, or of St. Peter in Tuscania, which are the closest to Roman models for refined elegance. Greater amplitude of form is found, however, in the frescoes of St. Sylvester in Tivoli. Extensive too between the 12th and 13th centuries was the production of panel paintings depicting the Savior (Tivoli, Sutri, Trevignano, Viterbo, etc.) or the Virgin (Viterbo, Vetralla, etc.). At Ausonia (St. Mary of the Plain) is preserved the most important cycle of Benedictine school in the region. In a manner more Byzantine in tone, with Venetian inflections, are the frescoes in the museum of the abbey of Grottaferrata. Though Byzantine in style, they are more vigorous and free in the frescoes of the chapel of St. Gregory in the Sacro Speco at Subiaco, akin to those in the crypt of the cathedral of Anagni, which is the most important medieval cycle in the entire region, where artists of various tendencies also converged. Reflections of the masters working in Rome at the end of the 13th century are found combined with a lively narrative vein of popular character in the works of Consolus in the Sacro Speco at Subiaco, while the painter of St. Mary in Vescovo repeats in the early 14th century with linear accentuations Cavallinesque modules; forms Roman and Assisi-like are linked to the oldest frescoes of St. Flavian in Montefiascone.

For the historical conditions of Lazio in the 15th century, the Renaissance styles penetrated the region with a certain delay; significant constructions from this period include the church of the Quercia near Viterbo, the Tempietto della Peste also in Viterbo, the church of S. Maria del Soccorso in Corchiano, of S. Aurea in Ostia Antica, of S. Oliva in Cori with its annexed cloister, etc. A reflection of Bramantesque forms reaches the Tempietto del Sangue in Velletri; then Sammicheli begins the cathedral of Montefiascone, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger builds the churches of Cellere and of S. Maria in Montedoro near Montefiascone and the chapel known as La Rocchina on the Isola Bisentina; Vignola those of Mazzano Romano, S. Oreste and of S. Maria del Piano near Capranica. His manner spreads throughout upper Lazio, impressing a particular character on several towns of the Viterbo area. The styles of Giacomo Della Porta are reflected in the Gesù of Tivoli. Civil production, by contrast, was much more extensive during this period. Grandiose works of military architecture (Genazzano, Bracciano), often by artists working in Rome, such as B. Pontelli (Ostia), Giuliano da Sangallo (Grottaferrata), Antonio da Sangallo the Elder (Nettuno, Civita Castellana) or Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (Civitavecchia, Montefiascone) or Peruzzi (Roccasinibald). A remarkable palace arising from fortification works is

that of Caprarola by Vignola, to whom also belongs the Villa di Bagnaia, while Ponzio works at Mondragone and Della Porta at the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati.

The great cultural gap developing between Rome and Lazio also accounts for the limited value of sculpture and painting works. Nevertheless, while Giovanni Dalmata completes the decoration of the temple of S. Giacomo in Vicovaro, Bregno carves the tabernacle of S. Maria della Quercia and Andrea della Robbia executes the majolica lunettes there. Michelangelo, around 1540, carves, presumably for Vittoria Colonna, his Pietà of Palestrina, now in Florence, in the Museum of the Accademia.

Thus, while Masolinian forms had penetrated the region early with the cycles of the Annunziata in Riofreddo and Cori, the figurative culture of the region by the mid-century is represented by the mediocre Pietro Coleberti (Priverno, Sermoneta) and Iacopo da Rocantica (Montebuono). A work of great beauty and stylistic coherence is instead the Mazzatosta chapel in the church of S. Maria della Verità in Viterbo, by Lorenzo da Viterbo, a vigorous individuality of painter in the circle of Piero della Francesca. Various works by Antoniazzo Romano are scattered in Lazio alongside those of modest masters of middle culture such as Piermatteo d'Amelia and Antonio da Viterbo. An island of Venetian manner is built by the works of Cristoforo Scacco in Fondi and in Montesampietro; towards the Ascolano area the belated and eclectic Cola dell'Amatrice operates.

The great 16th-century painters left no works in Lazio; their followers, however, are widely represented up to Mannerism. In Viterbo is the admirable Pietà by Sebastiano del Piombo; the Villa of Caprarola and that of Este in Tivoli offer examples of important Mannerist complexes, while variously represented in the churches of the region are other painters such as Siciolante, Pulzone, Muziano, etc.; particularly active in Rieti were the Veronese Torresani.

From Rome, Baroque spread throughout Lazio. The Maderno works at the papal Villa of Castel Gandolfo and at the church of S. Maria del Trivio in Velletri; Bernini builds the churches of Castel Gandolfo and of Ariccia and the façade of the sanctuary of Galloro; Antonio del Grande the collegiate church of Marino; Mattia de’ Rossi that of Valmontone; Girolamo Rainaldi S. Teresa in Caprarola and his son Carlo the two parish churches of Montecompatri and Monte Porzio; Carlo Fontana works for a long time in Formello; Girolamo Fontana raises the façade of the cathedral in Frascati and later Salvi renovates the church of S. Maria in Gradi in Viterbo. Many works reflecting variously the manner of the major masters still await stylistic clarification, but many others are merely modernizations or transfer into coarse and rustic modes the nobility of the models.

Among the sculptures of the Baroque age, special mention should be made of the Immacolata by Puget in the cathedral of Tivoli, the Berninian statues in the cathedral of Rieti and the monuments in the baronial chapel of Palestrina. Among the pictorial cycles, those by Domenichino at Grottaferrata near the Badia and by Father Pozzo in the church of the Gesù in Frascati are especially notable; works by various masters are found in different churches of the region, but they are mostly of little representative value.

Neoclassical architecture is particularly represented in Civitavecchia and Rieti; Camuccini has a fine collection of works in the homonymous palace of Cantalupo.

Examples of entirely modern centres with often fine buildings are Latina, Pomezia, Aprilia and especially Sabaudia, new cities in the recently reclaimed zone of the Agro Pontino. - See plates LXI-LXII.