The Silva Ciminia , the Ciminian Forest , was the unbroken primeval forest that separated Ancient Rome from Etruria . According to the Roman historian Livy it was, in the 4th century BCE , a feared, pathless wilderness in which few dared tread.
12-706: The Ciminian Forest received its name from the Monti Cimini , which are still a densely wooded range of volcanic hills northwest of Rome . They form the part of the forerange of the Apennine main range that faces towards the Tyrrhenian Sea . In the south, the Silva Ciminia stretched from Lake Bracciano to the edges of the flat plain of the Roman Campagna , in the lower Tiber Valley . Stretches of cleared fields round
24-526: A series of eruptions that occurred 305,000 to 258,000 years ago. Later, the eruption of voluminous pyroclastic flows , and volcanic ash , caused the progressive collapse of the volcanic cone, which created the caldera, in which Lake Vico now lies, by about 138,000 years ago. The lake is drained by the River Vicano. Before the construction of a tunnel by the Etruscans , the lake was probably deeper than today,
36-401: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lake Vico Lake Vico ( Italian : lago di Vico , pronounced [ˈviːko] ) is a caldera lake in northern Lazio , central Italy . It is one of the highest major Italian lakes, with an altitude of 510 m. Administratively, it is part of the municipalities of Caprarola and Ronciglione . The lake is surrounded by
48-584: The Cimini Hills , in particular by the Fogliano (965 m) and Venere (851 m) mountains. It is part of the Lake Vico Natural Reserve. According to legend, the lake was created by Hercules , who defied the local inhabitants by wielding his club. When he did this, a stream sprang up and formed the lake. Lake Vico occupies the central caldera of Vico Volcano. A volcanic cone was built up in
60-519: The Monte Venere constituting an island within it. The area is famous for its extensive beech forest, which is one of the most southerly in Europe. The elevation, plus the surrounding sides of the crater, create cool enough conditions for the continued survival of the trees. A large part of the northern side of the crater is a nature reserve to protect this forest. An incomplete list of wildlife present in
72-567: The aggressively re-seeding Spanish chestnut . A relict stand of beech, rare in Central Italy , remains on the upper slopes of Monte Cimino . Sub-fossil pollen analyses from cores of stratified sediment taken in the region's crater lakes typically reveal a pollen sequence characteristic of tundra lying over an all-but-sterile wind-blown loess sand; this in turn was followed by grassland, with pollen of water-lilies and pondweeds blown from glacial meltwater lakes . The earliest Holocene forest
84-474: The centre of Tuscia Viterbese , the highest point at Mount Cimino , 1,053 m (3,455 ft) above sea level . Lake Vico , a volcanic crater lake , is situated in the hills. The vegetation is predominantly beech forestation. The area is renowned for its hot springs , renaissance villas and Etruscan ruins. 42°21′30″N 12°10′40″E / 42.3582°N 12.1777°E / 42.3582; 12.1777 This Lazio location article
96-498: The geologically very recent soft tuff and volcanic ash. A sudden increase in organic sediments in strata corresponding to the third century BCE records this erosion following agrarian deforestation, which, far downstream, would initiate the Tiber 's delta. Thereafter the palynological record attests many cultivated plants, and, significantly, nettles , the weed of disturbed, untended corners that follows temperate agriculture everywhere. By
108-723: The major Etruscan settlements formed the Ager Veientanus that supported Veii , the Ager Faliscus of the Falisci , and the Ager Capenas of Capena . In the heart of the Ciminian woodlands lay the Ciminus Lake ( Lago di Vico ). In the northwest, they reached as far as Tarquinia . The forest was predominantly formed by oak and beech , though second growth in the lower slopes has favoured
120-658: The third and fourth centuries CE very little of the primeval forest survived. To the Romans of the Republic, the forest was as much feared as the trackless Hercynian Forest would be when they encountered that. In 310 BCE the Roman Senate , even after the rout of the Etruscans at Sutrium , charged the consul Fabius Maximus Rullianus not to enter this woodland in pursuit of the Etruscans, and when it emerged that he had done so, all Rome
132-579: Was fir , followed by mixed pine and oak, with a climax forest of beech and oak, including Quercus ilex . The surface profiles have been transformed since the region was first deforested in Roman times, as settlers worked outwards from strips flanking the Roman roads — the via Cassia , the via Amerina and the via Flaminia — which had been struck through the forest. In the deforested slopes, streams with even moderate flow have cut deeply eroded gullies and valleys in
SECTION 10
#1732845279927144-577: Was struck with terror. The Silva formed a natural barrier between Ancient Rome and Etruria. Monti Cimini The Monti Cimini , in English: Cimini Hills , are a range of densely wooded volcanic hills approximately 56 km (35 mi) north-west of Rome . They are part of the Antiapennine range, facing the Apennines main range towards the Tyrrhenian Sea . They are situated in
#926073