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a source of inspiration artists poets and scholars were inspired by the extraordinary environment of caffrella they found inspiration in athe varying shades of feeling in mythological arcadian pleasure or in historical reenactment they did scholarly research but also fantastic reconstructions just to quote a few du perac in 16th century piranesi in 18th century goethe and canova in the early 19th century chateaubriand stendhal in19th century d annunzio in the late 19th century

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pilgrimages this artistic and literary pilgrimage was particularly intense from mid 18th until the middle of 19th century when every cultured european had to take at least one trip to italy a country rich testimonies of the classical past greek and roman of bucolic landscapes and enlivened by festivals theatrical and musical performances.

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piranesi piranesi the italian architect engraver designer etcher and architectural theorist derived from the huge ruins the nostalgic feeling for an ideal immeasurably great world now lost and eroded this made him a precursor of the romantic sensibility

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lord byron even lord byron was impressed by the charm of this park cxvi the mosses of thy fountain still are sprinkled with thine elysian water-drops the face of thy cave-guarded spring with years unwrinkled reflects the meek-eyed genius of the place whose green wild margin now no more erase art s works nor must the delicate waters sleep prison d in marble bubbling from the base of the cleft statue with a gentle leap the rill runs o er and round fern flowers and ivy creep childe harold s pilgrimage canto 4 ­ 1812 1816 1818

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goethe he wrote today i visited the nymph egeria then the circus of caracalla the remains of the tombs along the appian way and the tomb of metella those men worked for eternity and had not calculated all the madness of pests before which everything must yield

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stendhal près de la grotte de la nymphe Égérie c est un temple antique élevé probablement en l honneur des muses on détruisit le portique quand on le changea en église sant_urbano promenades dans rome iii 5 octobre 1828 l église de saint_urbain aussi à rome est un autre monument de ces temps reculés il est encore possible de distinguer sur les murs quelques figures qui représentent des scènes prises dans l Évangile dans la légende de saint urbain et dans celle de sainte cécilie comme on ne trouve rien dans cet ouvrage qui rappelle la manière des peintres qui à cette époque florissaient à constantinople qu en particulier les têtes et les draperies sont traitées d une façon différente il est naturel de l attribuer au pinceau italien on y lit la date de 1011 histoire de la peinture en italie

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stendhal near the cave of the nymph egeria an ancient temple probably built in honor of the muses the portico was destroyed when it was changed into a church the church of saint urbain also in rome is another monument of ancient times it is still possible to distinguish some figures on the walls depicting scenes taken from the gospel in the legend of st urbain and in that of st cecilia as there is nothing that recalls the style of painters who at that time flourished in constantinople especially in the heads and draperies treated differently it is natural to attribute them to the brush of an italian painter you can read the date 1011.

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chateaubriand « ecoutez la nymphe egérie chante au bord de sa fontaine le rossignol se fait entendre dans la vigne de l hypogée des scipions la brise alanguie de la syrie nous apporte indolemment la senteur des tubéreuses sauvages le palmier de la villa abandonnée se balance à demi noyé dans l améthyste et l azur des clartés phébéennes mais toi pâlie par les reflets de la candeur de diane ô cynthie tu es mille fois plus gracieuse que ce palmier les mânes de délie de lalagé de lydie de lesbie d olympia posés sur des corniches ébréchées balbutient autour de toi des paroles mystérieuses tes regards se croisent avec ceux des étoiles et se mêlent à leurs rayons » mémoires d outre-tombe iii l38 chapitre 5 1er juin au soir 1833

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p. 10

chateaubriand listen the nymph egeria sings beside the fountain the nightingale is heard in the vineyard of the tomb of scipio the languid breeze of syria indolently brings the scent of wild tubers the palm of the abandoned house is rocking half embedded in the amethyst and blue phebean lights but thou made pale by the reflections the whute diana o cynthia you re a thousand times more charming than this palm the manes of delia of lalage lydia of lesbia olympia placed on ledges chipped around you babble mysterious words your eyes meet with those of stars and mingle with their radiations.

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d annunzio ma dove io ho veduto un tramonto maraviglioso è fuori porta san giovanni nel luogo detto la caffarella presso la fonte e il bosco di egeria c è laggiù un ruscello sul quale si chinano e si specchiano fiorellini innumerevoli ebbene questo ruscello s accende tutto all ora del tramonto quasi fosse incandescente e gli alberi attorno hanno riflessi rossastri misteriosi indefiniti si fa un gran silenzio sulle lontane colline si vedono passare come visioni grossi carri carichi di fieno tirati da buoi lentissimamente il boschetto di egeria rientra nell ombra e la vecchia sorgente colando tranquillissima canta sola in quella immensità par di vedere la ninfa aggirarsi ancora tra le ombre degli alberi piangendo come un suono sommesso di acque cadenti questa passeggiata alla caffarella di questi tempi è fatta da pochissime persone qualche inglese superstite in cerca di rovine qualche pittore in cerca di motivi e di macchie qualche cacciatore in cerca d allodole i romani generalmente ignorano queste bellezze delle loro campagne e forse non le conosceranno giammai perchè davvero non sono per tutti la tribuna anno iii n 209 venerdì 31 luglio 1885 rubrica la vita a roma

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d annunzio but where i saw a wonderful sunset is out of porta san giovanni in the place called the caffarella at the source and the wood of egeria there is a stream on which many flowers stoop down and are reflected well the whole stream kindles at sunset as if it were glowing and the trees have reddish mysterious undefined reflections there is so much silence on the distant hills you can see as a vision big wagons loaded of hay slowly pulled by oxen the grove of egeria falls in the shadow and the old source ldrippling quietly sings alone in the vastness the nymph seem to be still wandering among the shadows of the trees crying like the faint sound of falling water this walk to caffarella these days is done by very few people some british survivors in search of ruins some painters in search of patterns and spots some hunter sin search of skylarks the romans generally ignore these beauties of their countryside and perhaps hey do not even know them because they really are not for everyone

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p. 13

cecilia metella di enrico coleman http www.caffarella.it/sitomario/artlet/let_gt.htm

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