A source of inspirationArtists, poets and scholars were inspired by the extraordinary environment of Caffrella. They found inspiration in athevarying shades of feeling, in mythological, Arcadian pleasure or in historical re-enactment. 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

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.

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

Lord Byron

“The mosses of thy fountain still are sprinkledWith thine Elysian water-drops; the faceOf thy cave-guarded spring with years unwrinkled,Reflects the meek-eyed genius of the place,Whose green, wild margin now no more eraseArt's works; nor must the delicate waters sleep,Prison'd in marble -- bubbling from the baseOf the cleft statue, with a gentle leapThe rill runs o'er -- and round -- fern, flowers, and ivy creep,”

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto 4 –(1812, 1816, 1818)

Even Lord Byron was impressed by thecharm of this park ....

CXVI

GoetheHe wrote: “Today I visited the NymphEgeria, then the Circus of Caracallathe remains of the tombs along theAppian Way and the tomb of Metella …Those men worked for eternity, and had notcalculated all the madness of pests, beforeWhich everything must yield. “

StendhalPrès 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

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.

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

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.

D'AnnunzioMa 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

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”.

Cecilia Metella, di Enrico Coleman

http://www.caffarella.it/SitoMario/artlet/let_GT.htm