Pontine Marshes
Encyclopedia
The Pontine Marshes, termed in Latin Pomptinus Ager by Titus Livius, Pomptina Palus (singular) and Pomptinae Paludes (plural) by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, today the Agro Pontino in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, is an approximately quadrangular area of former marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
land in the Lazio Region of Central Italy, extending along the coast southeast of Rome about 45 km (28 mi) from just east of Anzio
Anzio
Anzio is a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene...
to Terracina
Terracina
Terracina is a town and comune of the province of Latina - , Italy, 76 km SE of Rome by rail .-Ancient times:...
(ancient Tarracina), varying in distance inland between the Tyrrhenian Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....
and the Volscian Mountains (the Monti Lepini
Monti Lepini
The Monti Lepini are a mountain range which belongs to the Anti-Apennines of the Lazio region of central Italy, between the two provinces of Latina and Rome....
in the north, the Monti Ausoni
Monti Ausoni
The Ausoni Mountains are mountain range of southern Lazio, in central Italy. They are part of the Antiappennini, a group running from the Apennines chain to the Tyrrhenian Sea. They are bounded northwards by the Monti Lepini and southwards by the Aurunci Mountains.They take the name from the...
in the center and the Monti Aurunci in the south) from to The northwestern border runs approximately from the mouth of the river Astura
Torre Astura
thumb|260px|The medieval coastal Tower of the [[Frangipani family|Frangipani]].Torre Astura, formerly an island called by the ancients merely Astura , is now a peninsula in the comune of Nettuno, on the coast of Latium, Italy, at the southeast extremity of the Bay of Antium, on the road to Circeii...
along the river and from its upper reaches to Cori in the Monti Lepini.
The former marsh is a low tract of mainly agricultural land created by draining and filling, separated from the sea by sand dunes. The area amounts to approximately 80,000 ha (800 km2; 310 sq mi). The Via Appia, a Roman military road constructed in 312 BC, crosses the inland side of the former marsh in a long, straight stretch flanked by trees. Before then travelers had to use the Via Latina along the flanks of the mountains; Tarracina could not be reached across the marsh.
Further southward along the coast as far as Minturno
Minturno
Minturno is a city and comune in the southern Lazio, Italy, situated on the north west bank of the Liris , with a suburb on the opposite bank c...
is another stretch of former coastal marsh called the South Pontino, the largest section being between Terracina and Sperlonga
Sperlonga
Sperlonga is a coastal town in the province of Latina, Italy, about half way between Rome and Naples.Surrounding towns include Terracina to the West, Fondi to the North, Itri to the North-East, and Gaeta to the East.-History:...
, as far inland as Fondi
Fondi
Fondi is a city and comune in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. Before the construction of the highway between the latter cities in the late 1950s, Fondi had been an important settlement on the Roman Via Appia, which was the main connection from Rome to...
. It was part of ancient Latium adiectum
Latium adiectum
Latium adiectum or Latium Novum is an ancient Roman geographical term used at least as early as the 1st century BC, when mention of it occurs in Pliny in conjunction with Latium antiquum, the original territory of the Latini tribe...
and still belongs to Lazio. Bordered by the Aurunci mountains
Aurunci Mountains
The Aurunci Mountains is mountain range of southern Lazio, in central Italy. They are part of the Antiappennini, a group running from the Apennines chain to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where they form the promontory of Gaeta...
, this land is mainly reclaimed as well, but the more frequent incursion of hills permitted more dense settlements. Leaving Terracina, the Via Appia crosses it as well.
The marsh was an extensive alluvial plain at approximately sea level (some above, some below) created by the failure of the streams draining the mountains to find clearly defined outlets to the sea through the barrier dunes. Above sea level it was a forested swamp; below, mud flats and pools. Sparsely inhabited throughout much of their history, the Pontine Marshes were the subject of extensive land reclamation work performed periodically. The tribe of the Volsci
Volsci
The Volsci were an ancient Italic people, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. They then inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the south, the Hernici on the east, and stretching roughly from...
began with minor draining projects in the vicinity of Tarracina in connection with their occupation of it in the pre-Roman period.
The road proved difficult to keep above water. Under Augustus a compromise was reached with the construction of a parallel canal. The part of the marsh above sea level was successfully drained by channels and new agricultural land of legendary fertility came into being. Whenever the channels were not maintained the swamp reappeared. Meanwhile frequent epidemics of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
at Rome and elsewhere kept the reclamation issue alive. Under Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
's regime in the 1930s the problem was nearly solved by placing dikes and pumping out that portion of the marsh below sea level. It continues to need constant maintenance. Italian confidence in the project was so high that the city placed by Mussolini in 1932 in the center of the marsh, Latina, became the capital of a new province, Latina
Province of Latina
The Province of Latina is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Latina.It has an area of 2,251 km², and a total population of 519,850...
.
Geology
The Agro Pontino geologically is one of four geomorphic divisions of a somewhat larger area, the Pontine Region, also comprising the Monti Albani, the Volscian Mountiains and Monte Circeo; in short, all of Roman LatiumLatium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...
. The marsh itself was located in Latium Novum
Latium adiectum
Latium adiectum or Latium Novum is an ancient Roman geographical term used at least as early as the 1st century BC, when mention of it occurs in Pliny in conjunction with Latium antiquum, the original territory of the Latini tribe...
, the eastern part of the region, which the Romans removed from the sovereignty of the Volsci
Volsci
The Volsci were an ancient Italic people, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. They then inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the south, the Hernici on the east, and stretching roughly from...
. The two terms create some confusion in the literature, as the region was often heavily settled, but the marsh as marsh supported a zero resident population.
Pliocene
The underlying landform is a horst–grabenGraben
In geology, a graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch. Graben is used for both the singular and plural....
, in which expansion of the crust causes a section to drop, creating a rift valley
Rift valley
A rift valley is a linear-shaped lowland between highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. This action is manifest as crustal extension, a spreading apart of the surface which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion...
. Underneath the marsh is such a valley, while the steeply-sided Volscian Mountains and the floor under the outer dunes are the corresponding horsts. The graben was formed over a period approximated by the end of the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
about 2.588 million years ago. The natural outcome of this graben topography was the creation of outer barrier islands and a lagoon that gradually filled with sediment transported from the mountains by runoff.
Pleistocene
The rift valley remained a depression in the Tyrrhenian Sea for about 2 million years and then in the Tuscolano-Artemisio Phase, dated 600-360 thousand years BPBefore Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
, a series of volcanic changes began leading to the current landform: the first four eruptive cycles of a new volcano in the vicinity of the Monti Albani, which spread pyroclastic rock and formed a caldera
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
. In the Campi di Annibale phase, 300-200 thousand years BP, a stratovolcano
Stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...
formed in the caldera. Approximately contemporaneously, in the Middle Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
, 781-126 thousand years BP, beds of sand and clay termed the Latina Complex appeared above sea level over the outer karst, enclosing a lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
. The beaches survive as the Latina Level from about 560 thousand BP.
The Tyrrhenian II transgression of ocean water into the lagoon left the Minturno level and complex, a dune barrier of about 13 m (42.7 ft), dated 125-100 thousand BP. Behind the beach deep peat and clay deposits alternating with alluvial sediments evidence the lagoon. It was deepest at the Terracina end diminishing to surface at Cisterna, where beds of travertine
Travertine
Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, and cream-colored varieties. It is formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot...
, sand fused by volcanic activity, reach the surface. At this time Latium Vetus had been formed as a volcanic land mass while Latium Novum was a lagoon, the future marsh.
The Tyrrhenian III transgression left the Borgo Ermada Complex and Level, about 90 thousand BP. It consisted of elongated sand ridges parallel to the shore, 8 m (26.2 ft) to 15 m (49.2 ft) high. During the regression phase, fluvial incisions indicate that by then at very latest the lagoon was totally enclosed. After it drained aeolian (wind-driven) sand covered the notches.
At around 22 thousand BP the volcanic complex became active for the last time, erupting in hydromagmatic explosions that created the beds of Lakes Albano and Nemi
Lake Nemi
Lake Nemi is a small circular volcanic lake in the Lazio region of Italy south of Rome, taking its name from Nemi, the largest town in the area, that overlooks it from a height.-Archaeology and history:The lake is most famous for its sunken Roman ships...
, both crater lakes.
Holocene
The most recent beach, the Terracina Complex and Level, which began the HoloceneHolocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
about 11700 BP, was a single ridge behind which clay, peat and peaty clay were being deposited at sea level. No land was yet above it. The region was a shallow lagoon interspersed with marshland. Fluvial incisions in the beach let out the excess water, which was brackish and contained salt-water molluscs, leading to the question of where the excess water came from and why alluvial fan
Alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain. A convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada, or compound alluvial...
s had not buried the region. The answer is in the composition of the Volscian Mountains, which are limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, porous and excessively cracked and faulted. All but the heaviest rainfalls sink into the rock only to appear as a large volume of spring and ground water at the foot of the mountains. Transport of sediment was minimal. In one estimate 20 cubic metres (706.3 cu ft) per second flow from springs over a distance of 20 km (12.4 mi). In another estimate, 80% of the rain falling on the Monti Lepini is absorbed, with a single spring at Ninfa exuding 2000 liter per second. These facts explain why the main fill of the lagoon is peat, silt and clay, and not thicker-grained alluvial deposits, and why it took so long.
Alluvial deposits known as the Sezze Fan began about 4000 BC in the marsh below Sezze
Sezze
Sezze is a town and comune in the Province of Latina, Italy, about 65 km south of Rome and 10 km from the Mediterranean coast. The historical center of Sezze is located on a high hill commanding the Pontine plain....
. As this date is too early for anthropogenic
Anthropogenic
Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes impacts on biophysical environments, biodiversity and other resources. The term anthropogenic designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian...
activities, the increased rainfall required to move the sediment is attributed to the Atlantic Period
Atlantic (period)
The Atlantic in palaeoclimatology was the warmest and moistest Blytt-Sernander period, pollen zone and chronozone of Holocene northern Europe. The climate was generally warmer than today. It was preceded by the Boreal, with a climate similar to today’s, and was followed by the Sub-Boreal, a...
, a time of warmer and moister climate dated approximately 5000-3000 BC. Pollen from the marsh indicate the replacement of mixed oak
Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests
The Thyrrenian-Adriatic Sclerophyllous and Mixed Forests Ecoregion, in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub Biome, is in southern Italy, Sicily, Corsica, and the Dalmatian Islands.-Major forest zones:...
by alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
and willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
. The modern rivers incised the marsh: the Ufente, the Sisto and the Amaseno, which had shifting rather than stable tributaries. The marsh drains to the southeast, with channels parallel to the coast, exiting between Circeo and Terracina
Terracina
Terracina is a town and comune of the province of Latina - , Italy, 76 km SE of Rome by rail .-Ancient times:...
. Although settlement on the mountain slopes began much earlier, deforestation by the Volsci
Volsci
The Volsci were an ancient Italic people, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. They then inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the south, the Hernici on the east, and stretching roughly from...
began in the 6th century BC. The marsh rapidly acquired the alluvial deposits of the Amaseno Fan over the peat, bringing much of it above water. No buried soils indicate any cultivation of dry land in the marsh.
Archaeology
Archaeological work on the marsh has been extensive, including surveys, excavations and core sampleCore sample
A core sample is a cylindrical section of a naturally occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, for example sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube called a core drill. The hole made for the core sample is called the "core hole". A...
s. Four land systems have been defined: Fogliano coastal, the beach system; Borgo Grappa Beach Ridge, the region just inland from the beach - rather extensive in the Circeo section; the Latina Plain, the main part of the fields; and the Monti Lepini, the flank of the mountains. The center of the marsh, earlier the lagoon, although currently urban, does not provide any ancient evidence of habitation. The land (or the lake) was undoubtedly uninhabited except possibly for itinerant fowlers and fishers, but further, any evidence of human activity there would be deep in the underlying peat. In the fringes, however, most anciently at the north edge of the lagoon and in the coastal fringe, in both the Fogliano and Borgo Grappa Land Systems, evidence of hunting-gathering dates from the Middle Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
. Evidently man has witnessed the entire history of the lagoon and marsh from its first formation, when he hunted and fished along its shores.
Paleolithic
PaleolithicPaleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
material comes from Campoverde at the north edge of the Pontino Agro. It is dated by typology, as none has been found in context. The assemblage of amateur collections of surface artifacts "shares affinities with various Lower Palaeolithic industries of
Latium, ... chronologically referred to the second half of the Middle Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
;" that is, about 500 thousand years BP
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
. These are primarily flint cores
Lithic core
In archaeology, a lithic core is a distinctive artifact that results from the practice of lithic reduction. In this sense, a core is the scarred nucleus resulting from the detachment of one or more flakes from a lump of source material or tool stone, usually by using a hard hammer percussor such...
and 5 cm (2 in) - 6 cm (2.4 in) flakes
Lithic flake
In archaeology, a lithic flake is a "portion of rock removed from an objective piece by percussion or pressure," and may also be referred to as a chip or spall, or collectively as debitage. The objective piece, or the rock being reduced by the removal of flakes, is known as a core. Once the proper...
, consisting of denticulate tool
Denticulate tool
In archeology, a denticulate tool is a stone tool that displays one or more edges that are worked into multiple notched shapes, much like the toothed edge of a saw. Indeed, these tools might have been used as saws, more likely for meat processing than for wood...
s, sidescrapers, borers, retouched
Retouch (lithics)
Retouch - the work done to an edge of a flint implement in order to make it into a functional tool, or to reshape a used tool. In the case of a core-tool, such as a hand-axe, retouch may simply consist of roughly trimming the edge by striking with a hammerstone, but on smaller, finer flake or blade...
flakes, some microlith
Microlith
A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. It is produced from either a small blade or a larger blade-like piece of flint by abrupt or truncated retouching, which leaves a very typical piece of waste,...
s, and others. Also from Campoverde comes animal bones excavated unscientifically from a trench during construction and one human tooth. The latter is too large to be of modern humans and has been assigned the genus Homo
Homo (genus)
Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and species closely related to them. The genus is estimated to be about 2.3 to 2.4 million years old, evolving from australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis....
. The animals include Elephas antiquus
Straight-tusked Elephant
The Straight-tusked Elephant is an extinct species of elephant closely related to the living Asian Elephant. It inhabited Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene . Some experts regard the smaller Asian species E...
, Mammuthus primigenius, Equus ferus, Bos primigenius, Cervus elaphus, Capreolus capreolus and others.
A skull of Neanderthal man from a grotto on Monte Circeo dates to about 65 thousand years BP.
Roman times
The marsh is described by the geographers and historians of the early Roman empireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
.
Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
reports that after the Secessio plebis
Secessio plebis
Secessio plebis was an informal exercise of power by Rome's plebeian citizens, similar to a general strike taken to the extreme. During a secessio plebis, the plebs would simply abandon the city en masse and leave the patrician order to themselves...
of 494 BC, a strike by the common people for political rights, there was a famine at Rome due to decreased economic activity. Grain buyers were sent to "the people of the Pomptine marshes" and elsewhere to acquire new supplies but were met with refusal. The Volsci
Volsci
The Volsci were an ancient Italic people, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. They then inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the south, the Hernici on the east, and stretching roughly from...
ans attempted to exploit this momentary weakness by raising an army of invasion but were struck down by an epidemic, of what sort, or whether historians can conclude to malaria, remains unsaid. The Romans, buying grain in Sicily, reinforced their colony at Velitrae and planted a colony at Norba
Norba
Norba, an ancient town of Latium , Italy. It is situated 1 mile northwest of the modern town of Norma, some 1575 ft. above sea-level, on the west edge of the Volscian Mountains or Monti Lepini...
, "which thus became a fortified point for the defence of the Pomptine region." In 433 BC Rome was struck by an epidemic and again sent buyers to the Pontine, this time successfully. Apparently at least some of the marsh was under cultivation, which the high density of Roman settlements along the two northern roads might lead one to expect.
Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
says:
"In front of TarracinaTerracinaTerracina is a town and comune of the province of Latina - , Italy, 76 km SE of Rome by rail .-Ancient times:...
lies a great marsh, formed by two rivers; the larger one is called the Aufidus (Ufente). It is here that the Appian WayAppian WayThe Appian Way was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, Apulia, in southeast Italy...
first touches the sea ... Near Tarracina, as you go toward Rome, there is a canal that runs alongside the Appian Way, and is fed at numerous places by waters from the marshes and the rivers ... The boat is towed by a mule."
In Strabo's view, Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...
extends south of Tarracina to Sinuessa
Sinuessa
Sinuessa was a city of Latium, in the more extended sense of the name, situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 10 km north of the mouth of the Volturno River . It was on the line of the Via Appia, and was the last place where that great highroad touched on the sea-coast...
. Through the marsh, with reference to the Via Appia and the Via Latina
Via Latina
The Via Latina was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers.It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mons Algidus; it was important in the early military history of Rome...
, "the rest of the cities of Latium ... are situated either on these roads or near them, or between them." He lists a number of settlements of the Monti Lepini Land System, from southeast to northwest: Setia
Sezze
Sezze is a town and comune in the Province of Latina, Italy, about 65 km south of Rome and 10 km from the Mediterranean coast. The historical center of Sezze is located on a high hill commanding the Pontine plain....
, Signa, Privernum
Piperno
Piperno , is a town of the province of Rome in Lazio region, central Italy. It is southeast of Rome by rail. The population of the town in 1901 was 6,736....
, Cora, Pometia
Suessa Pometia
Suessa Pometia was an ancient city of Latium, which had ceased to exist in historical times.It bordered on the Pomptinus ager or Pomptinae Paludes, to which it was supposed to have given name. Virgil reckons it among the colonies of Alba, and must therefore have considered it as a Latin city : it...
, and a number of others in the north of the Roman Campagna on the Via Latina.
Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
's statement on the topic of the marshes:
"Another marvel not far from Circello is the Pomptine Marsh, a place that MucianusMucianusGaius Licinius Mucianus was a general, statesman and writer of ancient Rome.His name shows that he had passed by adoption from the gens Mucia to the gens Licinia. He was sent by Claudius to Armenia with Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Under Nero he is recorded as suffect consul ca...
, who was three times consul, has reported to be the site of 24 cities. Then comes the river Aufentum, above which is the town of Tarracina ..."
is notable for what it does not say, which is the names and locations of the cities. Many more than 24 Roman settlements were built in the marsh, but it is not possible to find 24 of the size of Terracina or Antium without counting Latium Vetus or the coastal lands south of Terracina.
According to Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
, Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
had ambitious plans for the marsh, which if realized or realizable would have diverted the Tiber through
"During the expedition [a planned campaign around Europe] he intended ... to receive the Tiber immediately below the city in a deep cut, and giving it a bend toward Circaeum to make it enter the sea by Tarracina, ...besides this he designed to draw off the water from the marshes about Pomentium and Settia, and to make them solid ground, which would employ many thousands of men in the cultivation ..."
Renaissance
In 1298, Pope Boniface VIII had a canal dug to connect the Ninfa River with the Cavata River, which drained much of the land in the Dukedom of SermonetaSermoneta
Sermoneta is a hill town and comune in the province of Latina , central Italy.It is a walled hill town, with a 13th-century Romanesque cathedral called Cathedral of S. Maria Assunta and a massive castle, built by the Caetani family. The Cistercian Valvisciolo Abbey is located nearby...
, recently purchased by his nephews. The increase in water in the Cavata caused severe flooding in the marsh near Sezze
Sezze
Sezze is a town and comune in the Province of Latina, Italy, about 65 km south of Rome and 10 km from the Mediterranean coast. The historical center of Sezze is located on a high hill commanding the Pontine plain....
. Prior to his death in 1447, Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...
attempted to solve the now-long-standing water dispute between Sermoneta and Sezze by digging another canal to connect and control the rivers of those regions, but the project ended when he died.
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
, a Medici, proposed to finish the project but was opposed by the Duke of Sermoneta over the fishing rights. In 1514, he decided to drain the region around Terracina instead, assigning the task to his brother Giuliano de Medici, commander of the papal army. The Medicis would retain all reclaimed land. In 1515, Giuliano hired Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
to design the project. It provides the Ufente River with outlets through the Canale Giuliano and Canale Portatore. Giuliano died in 1516, and the city of Tarracina combined with Sermoneta and Sezze to halt work, over the issue of property rights. The people of the marsh were not going to allow the Medicis to take their land.
Popes Martin V, Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
, and Pius VI all attempted to solve the problem, the last-named reconstructing the road. In 1561, Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV , born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was Pope from 1559 to 1565. He is notable for presiding over the culmination of the Council of Trent.-Biography:...
employed the services of the mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
Rafael Bombelli
Rafael Bombelli
Rafael Bombelli was an Italian mathematician.Born in Bologna, he is the author of a treatise on algebra and is a central figure in the understanding of imaginary numbers....
, who had gained a reputation as a hydraulic engineer in reclaiming marshland in the Val di Chiana in the Tuscan Apennines, but the project also came to naught.
The ambitious Sixtus V also made unsuccessful attempts at reclamation of the area, and died of malaria after a visit to the Pontine Marshes.
18th century
On February 17, 1787, Goethe visited the region with his painter-friend TischbeinJohann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, also known as Goethe-Tischbein was a German painter. He was a descendant of the Tischbein family of painters, and a pupil of his uncle Johann Jacob Tischbein....
. He reports in his book, The Italian Journey
Italian Journey
Italian Journey is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's report on his travels to Italy from 1786–7, published in 1816–7. The book is based on Goethe's diaries...
, that they "have never seen so bad an appearance as this in Rome". Goethe became interested in the dewatering attempts, after observing that it is "a large and extensive task". He probably used this image in this scene in his Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
II, Act V: "A marsh extends along the mountain-chain, That poisons what so far I’ve been achieving; Were I that noisome pool to drain, 'Twould be the highest, last achieving. Thus space to many millions I will give. Where, though not safe, yet free and active they may live."
19th century
Near the end of the 19th century, a PrussiaPrussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n officer, Major Fedor Maria von Donat (1847–1919), had an idea; he would build a channel that followed the base of the mountains, cutting through a sand dune at Terracina
Terracina
Terracina is a town and comune of the province of Latina - , Italy, 76 km SE of Rome by rail .-Ancient times:...
. This would collect the water flowing from the mountain before it reached the lowest levels where it stagnated. The water collected in the canal system would then be pumped into the Mediterranean. The electricity needed to power the canal system would be collected through dams in the mountains with hydroelectric power plants. The German patent office
Patent office
A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...
patented the project under the number 17,120. He expected to dry out the marshes within a five-year time span.
Von Donat published his idea in Rome and Berlin, and succeeded in gaining the attention of Emil Rathenau
Emil Rathenau
Emil Moritz Rathenau was a German entrepreneur and industrialist, a leading figure in the early European electrical industry.- Biography :...
, the general manager of AEG
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....
in Berlin. Rathenau saw market potential for electric investments, so he and some industrialists in Berlin as well as private financiers created the "Pontine Syndicate Ltd." in 1900. Seventy million gold marks
German gold mark
The Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
were set aside for the project. One of the conditions was that the Italians would have to match the funds on the project.
In 1898, Fedor von Donat resigned from his position as battalion commander and moved to Rome with his family. There he lobbied the government for his project, as well as four large landowners, connections in financial circles and the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. He leased 240 acre (0.9712464 km²) of marsh near Terracina and established a model farm, "Tenuta Ponte Maggiore". With the help of waterwheels of ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian type, revolved by three oxen, he was able to prove that the moorland had a high percentage of organics in its soil, of over 70 points; this proved that three harvests per year were possible. He protected his eighty workers from malaria with a daily dose of quinine
Quinine
Quinine is a natural white crystalline alkaloid having antipyretic , antimalarial, analgesic , anti-inflammatory properties and a bitter taste. It is a stereoisomer of quinidine which, unlike quinine, is an anti-arrhythmic...
. He invited Roman journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s to a press conference on his property. In 1902, large German newspapers, as well as foreign papers, carried long articles about the project. They often carried a sense of national pride about the development project. Donat argued above all for the extermination of malaria in the countryside surrounding the capital. Malaria prevented the expansion of Rome to the south, the settling of which could provide a new province for Italy without a colonial war. The urbanization
Urbanization
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
of the marshes could prevent 200,000 Italians from emigration. Around the year 1900, one could count fewer than 1,000 inhabitants for a coastal region larger than 700 km². By a law passed in 1899, the proprietors were bound to arrange for the safe outlet of the water from the mountains, keep the existing canals open, and reclaim the district exposed to inundation, for a period of twenty-four years. The sum of 280,000 was granted toward the expense by the government.
Donat's plan failed. This time it was not the technical inadequacy as with the predecessors but political deliberations that stood in the way of the project. The liberal government hesitated and gave the North preference, where in the valley of the Po
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
large marshes also needed to be reclaimed. A violent resistance of the four large property owners in the Pontine Marshes was the reaction to the necessary expropriation
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
and leasing to the German syndicate of a large part of their marsh country. The co-financer, the Banca Commerciale in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, delayed starting the task. Donat, whose lobbying had operated on his own funds, exhausted his wife's fortune of 75,000 gold marks by 1903. Unsuccessful, he returned to Germany. The Pontine Syndicate was dissolved on September 4, 1914. With it, a premature but bold attempt at a transnational investment to gain more land ended.
20th century
Regardless of what the population of the marshes had been, in 1928 it was 1637 people who lived in shanties placed in their fields, herded, practiced agriculture, and were in poor health most of the time. The Italian Red Cross relates that, during malaria season, 80% of those having spent one night in the marsh became infected.Bonifica integrale
Since 1922, the Italian government's Department of Health, working with the Opera Nazionale Combattenti,A veteran's organization, founded 1917, reformulated in 1923 and 1926. One of its functions was to find land for veterans. had developed a new initiative to combat malaria, called the bonifica integrale.Although Giuseppe Tassinari, the party's agricultural expert, attributed the terms to Mussolini, they were developed by the Department of Health, 1917-1923. . It featured three stages, the first being the bonifica idraulica, which would drain the swamp and control the waters. Mussolini and his party called it "the battle of the swamps" because it required the recruitment, deployment and supply of an army of workers. In the second stage, the bonifica agraria, homesteads with stone houses and public utilities were to be constructed and the land was to be parcelled among settlers. The third stage, bonifica igienica, took measures against the mosquitos (Anopheles labranchiaeTaxonomy of Anopheles
Anopheles is a genus of mosquito . There are approximately 484 recognised species: while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30-40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium that cause malaria which affects humans in endemic areas...
), such as screens and whitewash
Whitewash
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...
(so that mosquitos could be easily identified and killed), and against malaria, such as distributing quinine and setting up health services.
In 1922 also, Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
was made prime minister by the king. In 1926, the Department of Health undertook a pilot project of the new strategy in the delta of the Tiber river, reclaiming land and creating 45 new homesteads with great success, after which Mussolini climbed aboard. At his request of the Director-general of the Department of Health, Alessandro Messea submitted a plan for the Pontine marshes. In 1928, Mussolini brought it before parliament; it became "Mussolini's Law", and began to be implemented in 1929. In 1939, at the incorporation ceremony of the last new city, Pomezia
Pomezia
Pomezia is a municipality in the province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. In 2009 it had a population of about 60,000.-History:The town was built entirely new near the location of ancient Lavinium on land resulting from the final reclamation of the Pontine Marshes under Benito Mussolini, being...
, the project was declared complete.
Beginning in 1930, the bonifica idraulica cleared the scrub forest,Mainly Quercus suber Q. robur, shrubby Olea europaea
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
, Erica arborea, and Myrtus species. constructed a total of 16500 km (10,252.7 mi) of checkerboard canals and trenches, dredged rivers, diked their banks, filled depressions, and constructed pumping stations to change the elevation in the canals where necessary. The final channel, the Mussolini Canal, empties into the Tyrrhenian Sea near Anzio
Anzio
Anzio is a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene...
. The project reached a peak in 1933 with 124000 men employed. The previous agrarian population was moved out under protest in the name of progress. Workers were interned in camps surrounded by barbed wire. The camps were overcrowded, wages were low, hours were long, food was bad, sanitation was poor, healthcare was missing, and medical attention was lacking. Workers could quit. The turnover was high. In 1935, at the completion of the phase, they were all dismissed without notice. Many were infected with malaria.
The government placed about 2000 families (most from northern Italy and of unimpeachable Fascist background) in standardised but carefully varied two-storey country-houses of blue stucco with tiled roofs. Each settler family was assigned a farmhouse, an oven, a plough and other agricultural tools, a stable, some cows and several hectares of land, depending on local soil fertility and the size of the family. Mussolini used the ten-year operation for propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
purposes. Mussolini was often photographed between workers, shirtless with a shovel in his hand, or threshing wheat at harvest time - these occasions were regularly filmed by LUCE for inclusion in nationally shown propaganda newsreels.
The new towns of Littoria (1932, now Latina), Sabaudia
Sabaudia
Sabaudia is a coastal town in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. Sabaudia's center is characterized by several examples of Fascist architecture.-History:...
(1934), Pontinia
Pontinia
Pontinia is a comune in the Province of Latina in the Italian region Lazio, located about 70 km southeast of Rome and about 15 km southeast of Latina....
(1935), Aprilia (1937), and Pomezia
Pomezia
Pomezia is a municipality in the province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. In 2009 it had a population of about 60,000.-History:The town was built entirely new near the location of ancient Lavinium on land resulting from the final reclamation of the Pontine Marshes under Benito Mussolini, being...
(1939) were founded, side by side with several other small borghi (rural villages). The carefully differentiated architecture and urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
aspects of these towns is striking even today.
Battle of Anzio
On September 8, 1943, Italy changed sides in World War II, the king having already issued an order for Mussolini's arrest. Rescued by the Germans, he became the head of the Republic of Salò, a puppet regime over northern Italy. The defense of Italy and the suppression of its insurgent population were left to the WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
. After the loss of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, they successfully defended the Gustaf Line
Winter Line
The Winter Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt. The primary Gustav Line ran across Italy from just north of where the Garigliano River flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west, through the Apennine Mountains to the...
south of the marshes, necessitating an Allied landing at Anzio
Anzio
Anzio is a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene...
and Nettuno
Nettuno
Nettuno is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, 60 kilometers south of Rome. It is named in honour of the Roman god Neptune...
in an effort to outflank the Germans. Malaria had returned to the Agro Pontino: Quinine
Quinine
Quinine is a natural white crystalline alkaloid having antipyretic , antimalarial, analgesic , anti-inflammatory properties and a bitter taste. It is a stereoisomer of quinidine which, unlike quinine, is an anti-arrhythmic...
and other medicines were in short supply or withheld by the Germans, the diet was bad, a shortage of metal prevented the screens from being repaired, and veterans returning from the Balkans brought back resistant strains of the disease.
The Germans stopped the pumps and opened the dikes, refilling the marsh with brackish water. They were being advised by the German malariologists Erich Martini and Ernst Rodenwaldt that the return of the salt water would encourage the return of Anopheles labranchiae, which thrives in a salty environment. The water would also destroy agriculture removing the essential supplies of food and fresh water from the vicinity, an act that had minimal military effect, but devastated the population. Although it is true that the bog impeded the movement of heavy equipment, the Germans did not flood the marsh for that reason; the equipment under the heavy shelling from some of the largest artillery pieces the Germans had was going nowhere, anyway. The flooding was an act of biological warfare
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
and was opposed by former Italian colleagues of the Germans in malariology, but someone on Kesselring's staff - unknown to this day - issued the order.
The allies and the Germans equally, therefore, found themselves fighting in a mosquito-infested bog. The new homes were being used as refuges for infantry and cover for tanks. Ernie Pyle relates:
"On these little farms of the Pontine marshes Mussolini built hundreds of ... stone farmhouses ... Now and then I saw a farmer plowing while German shells landed right in his field. We tried to evacuate people ... But some of them simply refused to leave their homes. Sometimes the Germans would pick out one of the farmhouses, figuring we had a command post in it, I suppose, and blow it to smithereens. Then, and only then, did some Italian families move out ... on any side road we couldn't drive five minutes without seeing the skeleton of a cow or a horse."
Agro Pontino
The Battle of Anzio left the marsh in state of devastation; nearly everything Mussolini had accomplished was reversed. The cities were in ruins, the houses blown up, the marshes full of brackish water, the channels filled in, the plain depopulated, the mosquitos flourishing, and malaria on the rise. The major structures for water control survived and in a few short years the Agro Pontino was restored. In 1947, the province of Littoria, created by Mussolini, was renamed to Latina. The last of the malaria was conquered in the 1950s, with the aid of DDTDDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
.
Today a duct system runs through the dried-out area. Wheat, fruit, and wine are cultivated in the Pontine region. The "Agro Pontino" is a flowering landscape with modern cities with both pre-war and post-war architecture. By the year 2000, about 520,000 inhabitants lived in this formerly deserted region. The Battle of the Swamps, however, is never quite over; without constant vigilance, dredging the channels, repairing and updating the pumps, and so on, the enemy would soon return. The spectre of distant problems remains: the prospect of chemical pollution of the environment, DDT-resistant mosquitos, and medicine-resistant strains of malaria.