The landscape of Castelporziano at the time of the Roman Empire: a testimony by Plinius the Younger (second century AD)

Abstract

The Tyrrhenian coast near Rome, south of the mouth of the Tiber River, has been inhabited since prehistoric time, and the existence of villages in the area presently indicated as Castelporziano is documented since the fourth century BC. The environmental conditions of this area are described in the letters of Pliny the Younger (61-ca. 114 AD), who had a villa in the immediate vicinity or, perhaps, within the area that currently forms the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano. The Estate became the subject of intensive ecological investigations during the last decades. Many letters of Pliny the Younger tell on his villa, its gardens and orchards, the proximity of wintergreen rangelands for sheep, the beach and the fishing activity along the waterfront. Many plants are mentioned: the identification of some of them is discussed. As a general conclusion, the most significant traits described by Pliny are largely corresponding to the present. Recent archaeological investigations are providing new evidence of a relative climatic stability during the last two millennia, even if in the Middle Ages most villages were abandoned because of malaria and the forest expanded, whereas in the last century large areas were converted into rangelands, fields and reforestation with non-native species (pine and eucalypt plantations). The original Latin texts of Pliny, along with a modern translation, end up this paper.