A day trip: the first monastery of St. Benedict to 50 minutes from ROME
The name Subiaco from the Latin sub-laqueum, “under the lakes”, the inhabited area is under the Simbruina stagnant, the three artificial lakes created by the barrier of the river Aniene, on whose right bank the Emperor Nero had a villa. History 302 BC, the Equi are defeated by the Latins who take possession of the territory. 55 d.C. From a series of dams on the river Aniene, Emperor Nero harvested the artificial water mirrors with which he encircled his grand dwelling, of which ruins remain. 368, the pieve in San Lorenzo, built according to tradition by the Roman patriarch Narzio, is located in the primitive inhabited nucleus of the area, just beyond the remains of the Neronian walls. 497, Benedetto da Norcia settles in the valley of Aniene, at the remains of the Nero villa, to lead you for three years hermitic life; In the next thirty years it is located in the thirteen monasteries area, of which the only survivor is Santa Scolastica (originally San Silvestro); All the others are destroyed in the 9th century. During the Saracen invasions; In 937 Pope Leo VII granted to the monastery of Santa Scolastica the castellum of Subiaco, which becomes the center of Benedictine territory. XI-XII century, is the period of greater splendor of the abbey, favored by several popes; In 1224 Francesco d’Assisi is in Subiaco. 1456, Pope Callisto III institutes the commenda (donation of the use of ecclesiastical benefit to lay people or religious) by Subiaco, entrusting the government with Cardinal Torquemada; Commissar bishops are in 1467 Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (who became Pope under the name of Alexander VI) and in 1492 Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, whose family Subiaco is subject to 1608. 1465-67, two German printers of Magonza, K. Sweynheym and A. Pannartz, pupils of Gutenberg, implant in the monastery of Santa Scolastica the first typography in Italy; Among the first printed books, De Oratore di Cicero and De Civitate Dei of Sant’Agostino. 1608, the commend passes to the Borghese family and in 1633 to the Barberini, who develop the manufacturing industry in the district of Opifici. In 1775, Abbot Giovannangelo Braschi, who became Pope Pius VI, granted Subiaco the title of “city” by providing a seminary and a public library. In 1944, Anglo-American bombings damaged the old town, rebuilt at the end of the conflict.
ENTERTAINMENT
Rafting, canoeing, kayaking and trout fishing on the Aniene River. Hiking, orienteering and Nordic walking around the village. From piazza del Campo, along the road 411 you arrive at the remains of the villa of Nero. Continuing on the way to the monasteries, you reach the cenobio of Santa Scolastica and then the one of San Benedetto.
Going along the river continues to the pond of San Benedetto. The territory of Subiaco is included in the Park of the Simbruini Mountains extended for 30 thousand hectares at the borders between Lazio and Abruzzo. The vegetation of the Park, which has over 2,000 meters, alternates oak forests and beech trees with clearings characterized by the presence of centuries-old maples. You enter the Park in Monte Livata (15 km from Subiaco), where you can quickly reach the Campo dell’Osso resort, at the foot of Mount Autore. After passing this area you arrive at the La Monna ski resort. After a few kilometers, alternating ample clearings through the woods, you come to the beautiful scenery of Le Vedute. Museum of Cartographic Activities and the Press: Located in the abbatial fortress, is the civic museum of the history of Subiaco; A paper coil hides itself by accompanying the visitor through a media path where paper and print are told. Borgo dei Cartai: Museum museum containing historical equipment and machinery, to rediscover the cycle of handmade paper production, made using linen, hemp and cotton, as it was done in the 18th century paper mills. School of Santa Scolastica: It houses about 4,000 parchments, 380 manuscript volumes and 213 incunabula. Among them, the De Divinis Institutionibus of Lattanzio and two De Civitate Dei by Sant’Agostino, printed in Subiaco in the years 1465-1457, when Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz installed the first Italian printing house. Feast of St. Lawrence, August 10: On the day of falling stars, the documented birth of the village is celebrated in August 937. The Inchinata, August 14: medieval festival originated by two processions departing from the churches of Santa Maria della Valle and Sant’Andrea; In the first, the image of the Assumption is carried on the shoulder by 12 carers, and in the second the Savior’s image. The two processions cross in La Valle, where the two images are facing each other. Feast of St. Benedict, March 20-22: three days of celebration in honor of the patron saint of Subiaco, with market display and procession from the way of the monasteries to the basilica of Sant’Andrea. It comes from the pastoral tradition you pappaciuccu, a dish with black cabbage boiled and kneaded with pizza and stale bread. The frascoes are white flour gnocchetti that contendo the primacy of the goodness to the strozzapreti with tomato sauce, garlic, oil, parsley, chili, alice, and to the polenta with tomato sauce and pork chops. The sub-hive is an almond-shaped biscuit, shaped like a diamond, covered with white glaze, found in every pastry, along with the wine donuts, the teddy bears and the tisichelle. In the monasteries of St. Benedict and Santa Scolastica, they sell herbal products and handicrafts.