Natural monument of Galeria Antica

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The Natural monument of Galeria Antica It is a protected natural area of ​​Lazio established in 1999.
Occupies an area of ​​40 hectares.

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Galeria Antica is a ghost city sometimes used as a film set for the conservation of the medieval system.

It has been recognized as a natural monument by Natura 2000 and is entrusted to Romanatura management [first] , although they are in a state of degradation for problems of attributing the restoration works [2] .

City door

According to the sources received, there are two different versions regarding the birth of the city. The first states that the city was founded by the ancient and unknown people of the Galerii. The second, and more likely, instead states that the city was founded in the Etruscan domination period, attributable by the presence of some necropolises of clear Etruscan invoice. The Etruscans baptized this place with the name of “Careia”: it served as a guard forest for the southern territories, between Veio and Cerveteri. The Etruscan domain was broken by the conquest of the Romans, as evidenced by some buildings with typically Roman outlines such as the round arches and the “Opus Incertum” buildings, found in the city. Galeria lasted and was probably abandoned during the barbarian invasions, and then be repopulated only in the Middle Ages. Pope Adriano I, in fact, during the eighth century AD He aimed to expand the boundaries of the Papal States and to consolidate the area around Rome. For this he founded a domuscultation in Galeria. This construction was then transformed into “Curtis” by Pope Gregory IV in 840 AD
A little later, the Saracens invaded the Tyrrhenian coasts and destroyed the city. Belonging to the homonymous accounts, including Gerardo and Riccardo, considered joint of the accounts of Tuscolo [3] , to pass during the mid -thirteenth century to the Orsini family who reconstructed it. The city began to flourish, but over time it passed from hand to many important families of Renaissance Italy. The decline of Galeria coincided with the advent of the Sanseverino family. The city changed its appearance from a fortified center to simple agricultural estate. Even the population, of course, was affected by this profound change; In fact, there is a worrying demographic reduction of the city. The drop in inhabitants culminated with the arrival of malaria during the eighteenth century, an epidemic that infested the entire Roman agro. Galeria was completely abandoned in 1809.

Starting from the mid -eighteenth century, the locals began to die somewhat mysteriously. Based on recent research, it is possible to attribute these deaths to the malaria epidemic, which in that period infested the area. What intrigues, however, is the abandonment of the inhabitants of the city starting from the early 19th century. The people of the place fled the city with particular precipitousness, so much so that not only the tools and furnishings, but even the corpses on the wagons that should have built away from the city. The bodies were found a few years after the abandonment of Galeria and were buried half a century later. The inhabitants who flew from Galeria, a few dozen people, moved only one kilometer from the city and founded a new village, Santa Maria di Galeria Nuova.

The ruins arise on a tufaceous spur that borders the Arrone river to the west. The spur has an almost quadrangular form and in past times it constituted an excellent natural defense. After the abandonment of 1809, the vegetation took over the whole area where the fortified city once stood, creating a unique ecosystem of its kind. The English archaeologist Thomas Ashby, who visited the ruins between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, described the place as “one of the most beautiful places to visit for those who love isolated corners near Rome” because of the “picturesque desolation of the Its roads, semi -refined of vegetation and its crumbled buildings “.

Ruins of a house

Many houses arise on the spur of tuff, completely invaded by the vegetation, which once constituted the beating heart of Galeria. Within the city, during the Middle Ages, a destroyed castle stood, of which, however, some rubble remain. Attached to the castle was the church of San Nicola, of which we can still admire the bell tower dating from the eighteenth century, which represents everything that remains of the church. During the malaria epidemic, in fact, the church was transformed into an improvised cemetery to bury the dead. The church of San Nicola, however, did not represent the only church of Galeria, given that there were three others. The church of Santa Maria della Valle was important, also known by the name of Old Hospital, devastated by lightning around the 16th century. The church of Sant’Andrea instead destroyed in a fire in 1816, while the church of San Sebastiano was demolished in 1600. There is no precise visit to visit the village, except that of the main mule track that crosses it. Other constructions, including the bridge overlooking the Arrone river downstream of the village, are scattered and sighted by the vegetation almost everywhere, in the surroundings of the central area

The animals living in the area are different and numerous. Civette and Nibbi can be observed to fly over the hill, while Volpi and Ricci hide among the ruins. Some blackbirds hide in oaks. Aerone Cenerino also visits these places in the migration period. In the waters of the Arrone river, Barbi, Cavedani, Rovelle and Anguille swim swimming.

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Covered with intricate vegetation, the village has been completely uninhabited for two centuries. This has allowed the formation of an ecosystem, of considerable interest due to its variety, whose luxuriant vegetation includes above all holm oaks, laurels, maples and, in the humidity of the Forces, also Salici, Olmi and Orene. Precisely because of the imposing presence of varied vegetation, the Lazio Region declared, in 1999 the ruins of the Galeria “Natural Monument”.

Access to Antica Galeria is completely free and you can get through Santa Maria di Galeria. However, it is not recommended to go into the ruins without a guide or a particular knowledge of the place. The territory, in fact, has numerous holes of considerable depth, often hidden by the vegetation. Furthermore, some ruins are made inaccessible due to their instability.

A ancient legend circulates that narrates the story of a ghost named “without hatches”. The ghost would be the spirit of a local inhabitant, probably died during the malaria period, who returns every year among the ancient ruins of Galeria, singing and playing for his beloved woman, riding a beautiful white horse. In fact, several witnesses claim to have heard from the ruins the typical noise produced by the hooves of a horse, accompanied by a sound similar to a lament. The ghost is mainly alive in winter, during the floods of the Arrone river. The skeptics say, however, that the noises that the witnesses claim to hear are actually produced by the waters of the arrone that burn on the rocks, at the point where the river crosses some cavities under the village.

  1. ^ www.agraria.org
  2. ^ Source: website of the University of Urbino . In 2004 the Council of the Town Hall Roma XX held a public session for the acquisition by the Municipality of the Antica Galeria area. Source: Municipality of Rome
  3. ^ Valeria beolchini, Tusculum II: Tuscolo, a dynastic roccaforte control of the Latin valley , p.71; Antonio Berardozzi, The accounts of Galeria (XI -XIII centuries)
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