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The town of Ariccia's area covers mostly that of the ancient Ariccia on the
hill towering ‘Vallericcia', a flat land once occupied
by a great volcanic crater, and that of the centre built by
Romans along the ancient Via Appia's path. Ariccia was member
of the Latin League and in its territory was defeated the Etruscan
army commanded by Porsenna. The Diana's temple on the Nemi's
lake shore, the ‘Speculum Dianae', also was part of its
territory.
After participating in the struggle between Latins and Romans,
it was conquered by the Romans and became a Municipium; Via
Appia's opening and the increasing commercial traffic
determined Ariccia's development, that became the first
stage-coach station along this important artery.
It was devastated by Mario in 87 A.C., but it flourished again
and rapidly; during the imperial Age it was enriched by temples,
baths, and important public offices. The Barbaric invasions
determined its inexorable decline that reached its peak in 827
with the Saracens' destruction. The survivors built a
new centre in the acropolis. A ‘Castrum Ariciensis'
is first mentioned in some documents of the year 990, when Ariccia
was property of the Conti di Tuscolo. In the 11th century Ariccia
belonged to the Holy see until the 1437, when the Savelli became
their owner. This Family drained the lake and built a castle.
In 1661 Ariccia was sold to the Chigi, a Sienese Family that
contributed to transform the plan of Ariccia according to the
Bernini's designs.
Pius VI (1775-1799) ordered the Via Appia's reopening
and Ariccia gained again the importance it had in the past,
improved by the building of a grand viaduct with three orders
of arches. After its fall, the viaduct was rebuilt in 1947 and
it is still towering over the Chigi's park.
The ruins of the ancient Ariccia are not numerous and they
are located mostly in private agricultural grounds. Among these:
the ‘Basto del Diavolo', an arch made of peperino blocks,
below the street's level, that was one of the town's gate; and
a two-hundred-meter-long and ten-meter-high substructure, which
once had an important function: thanks to it the path of the
Via Appia could overcome the difference in height between the
hills.
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