La Riccia, The Next Place We Passed Thro', Is The Ancient Aricia,
Mentioned In Horace's Journey To Brundusium.
We arrived in the evening at
Velletri.
Velletri is a large town or rather city situated on a mountain, to which
you ascend by a winding road skirting a beautiful forest. From the terrace
of one of the Palazzi here, you have a superb view of all the plain below
as far as the rock of Circe, comprehending the Pontine marshes. There are
several very fine buildings at Velletri, and it is remarkable as being the
birthplace of Augustus Caesar. There is a spacious Piazza too on which
stands a bronze statue of Pope Urban VIII. Velletri is twenty-eight miles
from Rome.
The next morning, the 27th, we started early so as to arrive by six o'clock
in the evening at Terracina. At Cisterna is a post-house and at Torre tre
Ponti is a convent, a beautiful building, but now delapidated and
neglected. Near it is a wretched inn, where however you are always sure to
find plenty of game to eat. Here begin the Pontine marshes and the famous
Appian road which runs in a right line for twenty-five miles across the
marshes. It was repaired and perfectly reconstructed by Pius VI, and from
him it bears its present appellation of Linea Pia. This convent and
church were also constructed by Pius VI with a view to facilitate the
draining and cultivating of the marshes by affording shelter to the
workmen.
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