Gianola promontory: Mamurra’s ancient Roman villa

The serene beauty of the marine landscape is enriched by the ancient beauty of the extensive archaeological area on the promontory. In the park there are the ruins of a ancient villa belonging to wealthy Roman knight retired here around 2000 years ago’. His name was Lucius Vitruvius Mamurra and he was the commander of the engineers (praefectum fabrum) I Julius Caesar during the campaigns to conquest Gaul and Spain. He amassed great wealth and then retired in this area of southern Latium.

In Roman times, the panoramic position and the warm climate encouraged the construction of villas on Gianola Promontory, two of which today lie in the park’s protected area. In ancient Rome, Mamurra was considered a very wealthy man with a taste for luxury villas he owned in Formia and Rome too. Mamurra was clearly mentioned by the great writer Horace, who defined the Roman colony of Formia as ‘Mamurranum urbs’ (means Mamurra’s town) to highlight the large amount of land, homes and wealth owned by Mamurra in this town of southern Latium. Apparently Mamurra liked luxury to the extent that he seemed to start the new ‘wave’ of covering with precious marble all the walls of his properties, including also large columns entirely in marble.

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Mammurra lived in the 1st century BC (84-14 BC) and his villa in Gianola was built around 50 BC. The ancient villa of Mamurra was resembling a small town in the way it was planned and organized, with terraces on the sea, a small temple, the ever present, typical termal baths and several underground cisterns with strong, bulky columns to store goods and land produce. This ancient Roman site in includes the small Giano’s Temple, Janara’s Grotta and the underground cisterns with 36 underground columns.

In recent times, it was discovered that the old Roman harbor was in reality a small port built on a ancient Roman fishery rather that a small private port used by the Romans. One of the most suggestive routes on Gianola promontory is the path called ‘Malopasso’. When reaching the road to the Roman harbor, visitors will turn left after leaving the car in the car park and continue by walking. On the way spectacular specimens of cork oaks (Quercus suber) and (Quercus pubescens) border the path with dense bushes of myrtle and Pistacia lentiscus. Here on the top of the promontory there is in part, a Mediterranean vehetation similar to that of some slopes of Mt Orlando in Gaeta’s Gulf. The scents of different wild flowers and herbs accompany the visitors on the way. Ascending the slight slope, visitors will pass near the WWF Information Point with its adjoining pic nic area. Before arriving to the area called Piazza D’Armi, visitors will notice beautiful prairies of Erica plants which explode in a sea of yellow flowers during the spring.

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Once in Piazza D’Armi travelers can enjoy a truly spectacular view. The Gulf of Gaeta will display in all its beauty and the Aurunci Mountains behind will stand out with the imposing Mt Redentore peak facing the sea. From Piazza D’Armi continuing towards the sea, the soil changes as the clay gives way to the sand. After the WWF Information Point the path will turn slightly inland across fields with gorgeous Irises flowers and wild orchids; it then reaches one of the summits of the promontory from wher the village of Scauri can be glimpsed.

If the sky is particularly clear, visitors can be able to see the far coast of Campania, the Pontine Islands up to Punta Campanella and Capri Island. Here the promontory falls almost vertically into the sea and the vegetation is dominated by coarse grass and wild rosemary with their intense scent. In this side of the promontory there are beautiful white limestone cliffs and they offer the ideal observation point from which admiring the cormorants as they dive between the waves and rocks in search of fish. Further on inland some beautiful and old Aleppo Pines stand out in the typical Sud Pontino landscape. They are the only witnesses of what is left of an ancient forest that once extend from the banks of Garigliano River to Sperlonga. The final location reached by the path continues until it reaches the summit of Mt D’Oro where there is another park information point. From here, travelers can either come back to the archaeological area or reach the Sassolini Beach (means ‘Little Pebbles Beach’). This little secluded beach provides a suggestive spectacle with its beach of small pebbles and particularly intense blue-green color of the sea reflecting the dark green of the pines which seem almost touching the waves.

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