Development of the Disabitato
Title
Development of the Disabitato
Description
Within the disabitato, antique temples, baths, villas, and shops took on new uses as the environment around them changed. At the beginning of our tour, in Parco degli Caffarella, the changes to these structures have been preserved into the present. Just outside the Aurelian Walls, between the Via Appia and the Via Latina lies the Caffarella, a rural valley home to funerary monuments and villas in antiquity. The first site is of the Tomb of Annia Regilla, followed by Constantine’s Columbarium. Both structures, set against the rural and wild lands of the Caffarella, evoke the feelings of the disabitato. More importantly, both sites’ purpose shifted from that of a funerary site to an agricultural site during the middle ages.
The Tomb of Annia Regilla, built in the 2nd century, was used as a barn and linked to a nearby farmhouse and tower by the 18th century. Nearby, the Columbarium of Constantine was adapted in the medieval period into a mill. A channel of water was redirected through the floor of the building, turning a millstone. One of the primary reasons that the population center of Rome shifted to the Tiber bend was the gradual breaking-down of the Roman aqueduct system. Without a reliable flow of water, family mills had to move to the river Tiber to function, or were built along newly formed streams, as is the case with the Columbarium of Constantine. As in the Caffarella, abandoned structures from antiquity became useful for new purposes as demographics and waterways changed.
While pagan sites were converted for rural use in the disabitato, churches from antiquity were generally maintained, and came to be the centers of the disabitato’s new settlements. The Tiber Bend had the advantage of easy access to the river which allowed for the transportation of goods, fishing, and the powering of mills. But many sites in the disabitato had the advantage of proximity to Rome’s great churches that saw many pilgrims.
Santa Maria Maggiore was one such site of particular importance in what became the disabitato. Pope Hadrian I renovated its monastery in 786 A.D. to ensure that a support staff would be available to care for the church. Under Benedict III’s papacy in the 9th century, the baptistery, which had fallen into disrepair, was given a new roof. “In this basilica the baptistery had remained roofless for a long time; with swift endeavor…[Benedict III] restored it and saw to its being brought to its ancient condition.” (Liber Pontificalis, 106:21). The baptistery would have been integral to maintaining a community around the church, as parishioners would baptize their children at a local church.
Throughout the Middle Ages, roads to and from the Basilica were kept open, and Roman piping was maintained to keep the site functional by the eleventh century. Surrounding the Basilica, other churches received upkeep to form a cluster of settlement. A monastery was added to nearby Saint Andrew, and the attachment of a nunnery to nearby San Bibiana ensured that the church would remain in working condition.
In another disabitato settlement, on the road to St. John Lateran, Quattro Coronati was rebuilt in 1116 with a new monastery to help repopulate the surrounding area. The revived road networks of the disabitato linked inhabited spaces together, making sites like that at S. Maria Maggiore hubs of activity. By keeping S. Maria Maggiore and surrounding churches open, more people were tempted to settle nearby. And with more people settling nearby, the churches around S. Maria Maggiore became wealthier as parishioners donated land to the church.
While traditional homes in the disabitato were centered around monumental ruins and were heavily fortified, the church settlements like that around S. Maria Maggiore mirror the housing of the abitato. As new construction occurred surrounding churches of great importance, power thus became centered around the ancient churches of the disabitato.
The Tomb of Annia Regilla, built in the 2nd century, was used as a barn and linked to a nearby farmhouse and tower by the 18th century. Nearby, the Columbarium of Constantine was adapted in the medieval period into a mill. A channel of water was redirected through the floor of the building, turning a millstone. One of the primary reasons that the population center of Rome shifted to the Tiber bend was the gradual breaking-down of the Roman aqueduct system. Without a reliable flow of water, family mills had to move to the river Tiber to function, or were built along newly formed streams, as is the case with the Columbarium of Constantine. As in the Caffarella, abandoned structures from antiquity became useful for new purposes as demographics and waterways changed.
While pagan sites were converted for rural use in the disabitato, churches from antiquity were generally maintained, and came to be the centers of the disabitato’s new settlements. The Tiber Bend had the advantage of easy access to the river which allowed for the transportation of goods, fishing, and the powering of mills. But many sites in the disabitato had the advantage of proximity to Rome’s great churches that saw many pilgrims.
Santa Maria Maggiore was one such site of particular importance in what became the disabitato. Pope Hadrian I renovated its monastery in 786 A.D. to ensure that a support staff would be available to care for the church. Under Benedict III’s papacy in the 9th century, the baptistery, which had fallen into disrepair, was given a new roof. “In this basilica the baptistery had remained roofless for a long time; with swift endeavor…[Benedict III] restored it and saw to its being brought to its ancient condition.” (Liber Pontificalis, 106:21). The baptistery would have been integral to maintaining a community around the church, as parishioners would baptize their children at a local church.
Throughout the Middle Ages, roads to and from the Basilica were kept open, and Roman piping was maintained to keep the site functional by the eleventh century. Surrounding the Basilica, other churches received upkeep to form a cluster of settlement. A monastery was added to nearby Saint Andrew, and the attachment of a nunnery to nearby San Bibiana ensured that the church would remain in working condition.
In another disabitato settlement, on the road to St. John Lateran, Quattro Coronati was rebuilt in 1116 with a new monastery to help repopulate the surrounding area. The revived road networks of the disabitato linked inhabited spaces together, making sites like that at S. Maria Maggiore hubs of activity. By keeping S. Maria Maggiore and surrounding churches open, more people were tempted to settle nearby. And with more people settling nearby, the churches around S. Maria Maggiore became wealthier as parishioners donated land to the church.
While traditional homes in the disabitato were centered around monumental ruins and were heavily fortified, the church settlements like that around S. Maria Maggiore mirror the housing of the abitato. As new construction occurred surrounding churches of great importance, power thus became centered around the ancient churches of the disabitato.
Creator
William Powers (2020)
Source
Coates-Stevens, Robert. "Housing in Early Medieval Rome, 500-1000 AD", Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 64 (1996), pp. 239-259
trans. Davis, Raymond. The Lives o the Ninth-Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995.
De Vita, Oretta Zanin. Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds: Recipes and Lore from Rome and Lazio. University of California Press, 2013.
Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Parco degli Caffarella Website: https://www.caffarella.it/il-parco/da-vedere/colombario/
The Tomb of Annia Regilla, Pamphlet
trans. Davis, Raymond. The Lives o the Ninth-Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995.
De Vita, Oretta Zanin. Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds: Recipes and Lore from Rome and Lazio. University of California Press, 2013.
Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Parco degli Caffarella Website: https://www.caffarella.it/il-parco/da-vedere/colombario/
The Tomb of Annia Regilla, Pamphlet
Date
900
Identifier
disabitatodevelopment_2019
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Piazza di S. Maria Maggiore, 00100 Roma RM
Description
Within the disabitato, antique temples, baths, villas, and shops took on new uses as the environment around them changed. At the beginning of our tour, in Parco degli Caffarella, the changes to these structures have been preserved into the present. Just outside the Aurelian Walls, between the Via Appia and the Via Latina lies the Caffarella, a rural valley home to funerary monuments and villas in antiquity. The first site is of the Tomb of Annia Regilla, followed by Constantine’s Columbarium. Both structures, set against the rural and wild lands of the Caffarella, evoke the feelings of the disabitato. More importantly, both sites’ purpose shifted from that of a funerary site to an agricultural site during the middle ages.The Tomb of Annia Regilla, built in the 2nd century, was used as a barn and linked to a nearby farmhouse and tower by the 18th century. Nearby, the Columbarium of Constantine was adapted in the medieval period into a mill. A channel of water was redirected through the floor of the building, turning a millstone. One of the primary reasons that the population center of Rome shifted to the Tiber bend was the gradual breaking-down of the Roman aqueduct system. Without a reliable flow of water, family mills had to move to the river Tiber to function, or were built along newly formed streams, as is the case with the Columbarium of Constantine. As in the Caffarella, abandoned structures from antiquity became useful for new purposes as demographics and waterways changed.
While pagan sites were converted for rural use in the disabitato, churches from antiquity were generally maintained, and came to be the centers of the disabitato’s new settlements. The Tiber Bend had the advantage of easy access to the river which allowed for the transportation of goods, fishing, and the powering of mills. But many sites in the disabitato had the advantage of proximity to Rome’s great churches that saw many pilgrims.
Santa Maria Maggiore was one such site of particular importance in what became the disabitato. Pope Hadrian I renovated its monastery in 786 A.D. to ensure that a support staff would be available to care for the church. Under Benedict III’s papacy in the 9th century, the baptistery, which had fallen into disrepair, was given a new roof. “In this basilica the baptistery had remained roofless for a long time; with swift endeavor…[Benedict III] restored it and saw to its being brought to its ancient condition.” (Liber Pontificalis, 106:21). The baptistery would have been integral to maintaining a community around the church, as parishioners would baptize their children at a local church.
Throughout the Middle Ages, roads to and from the Basilica were kept open, and Roman piping was maintained to keep the site functional by the eleventh century. Surrounding the Basilica, other churches received upkeep to form a cluster of settlement. A monastery was added to nearby Saint Andrew, and the attachment of a nunnery to nearby San Bibiana ensured that the church would remain in working condition.
In another disabitato settlement, on the road to St. John Lateran, Quattro Coronati was rebuilt in 1116 with a new monastery to help repopulate the surrounding area. The revived road networks of the disabitato linked inhabited spaces together, making sites like that at S. Maria Maggiore hubs of activity. By keeping S. Maria Maggiore and surrounding churches open, more people were tempted to settle nearby. And with more people settling nearby, the churches around S. Maria Maggiore became wealthier as parishioners donated land to the church.
While traditional homes in the disabitato were centered around monumental ruins and were heavily fortified, the church settlements like that around S. Maria Maggiore mirror the housing of the abitato. As new construction occurred surrounding churches of great importance, power thus became centered around the ancient churches of the disabitato.
Creator
William Powers (2020)Date
900Coverage
Not ApplicableSource
Coates-Stevens, Robert. "Housing in Early Medieval Rome, 500-1000 AD", Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 64 (1996), pp. 239-259trans. Davis, Raymond. The Lives o the Ninth-Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995.
De Vita, Oretta Zanin. Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds: Recipes and Lore from Rome and Lazio. University of California Press, 2013.
Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Parco degli Caffarella Website: https://www.caffarella.it/il-parco/da-vedere/colombario/
The Tomb of Annia Regilla, Pamphlet