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Here
the Latins provided the “Caenon” port with everything necessary;
then the Volsci carried on using it and Nero build the new port there.
Celer and Severus, architects of the Emperor, for whom they had
already completed some important construction works, faced a few
problems of space. Nero indeed wanted not only to reopen the ancient
Caenon port, but also to build a greater one, more adequate to the
needs and to the future development of his Antium. Therefore, two
natural promontories were chosen as points of junction building two
piers, the
eastern one 700 metres long and the western one,
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850
metres, which formed a trapezoidal-shaped basin. The harbour had
only one entrance channel, 60 metres wide south-eastward. Every
pier, each 10 metres wide, had an internal dock or carriage
pavement about 6 metres wide, which was realised through castings
of cement inside boxes made of planks.
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Its
patterns are still visible in some surfacing parts on the eastern dock.
These walls were covered and protected by a shield of bricks and tiles,
punctuated, at regular intervals, by half-columns, which were once
clearly visible out of the water, and that now cover the surviving
stumps. Today, only few parts of the western dock remain, while a larger
part is still covered by earth or is hidden under the buildings and
under the structure of the new pier desired by Pope Innocent XII
in 1700. In
all probability, the two piers were defended on the side open to the sea
by an artificial breakwater, traces of which we can still observe, in
spite of the sacking carried out during the construction of the
Innocentian port. To avoid the silting up of the port, Roman architects
provided the western pier with four small apertures that allowed the
current to flow between the two ancient natural promontories.
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Another
artifice used by the architects to protect the port from interment and
from the force of the waves, was to make a series of circular openings
that we can still see among the ruins. Its regards the commercial
activity of the port, we have indirect evidence from the sculptural
masterpieces found in abundance in Anzio, from the many people arrived
and often settled here, from the presence of new customs, philosophies
and religions, like the Mythraic cult and, later, Christianity. All this
testifies to the vitality of the port, as a point of arrival and
departure for people and goods. Eventually, it was likely that the port
was used by the imperial military fleet. The presence of Aquilius,
admiral of this fleet, as sponsor of the town, confirms this hypothesis,
not forgetting the frequent sojourn of the Emperors in the nearby Palace.
The harbour constructions later became covered with earth and then
rediscovered in 1852. Going eastwards, underneath the Neronian
belvedere, we meet with a large rectangular space ( 240 square metres
about ),
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obtained
from a blocking in bricks and tiles of two big walls in
reticulatum that seem to continue towards the coast. The rusticity
of the floor and the small short walls placed all around, which
should probably hold a level of support up to the great walls,
lead us to believe that the place could have been a covered market
or a large tavern by the port. The presence of some bow-shaped
openings leading to other barrel-vaulted rooms, the remarkable
thickness of the walls and the reduced height, lead us to believe
that these rooms might have been intended to replace constructions
or stalls on an upper floor, without excluding their temporary or
seasonal utilisation as cellars, store-rooms, etc. |
Following
up the run of the coast, a long line of similar spaces come in
succession, as if to strengthen and lengthen it. These huge caves
penetrate for several metres
into the interior of the promontory as well. Inside most of them, we can
see some corridors blocked by landslides which still hide many secrets.
Near the western link of the pier, the series of constructions
more or less laid in a straight line continues into three rooms that,
changing direction, elegantly describe a hemicycle along the coast.
Continuing eastwards, it is still
possible to see, mostly at low tide, another series of spaces lying on a
strong platform, which is further evidence of the modification of the
natural coast for town-planning purposes. These last buildings show a
technical homogeneity due to the presence of the surface in mixed work,
typical of the Neronian period and therefore contemporary with the
construction of the port and its relative facilities. At the peak of
these grandiose edifices, in a refined setting made of terraces
supported by arches, perhaps were resplendent the Temple and the
Simulacrum of “Dea
Fortuna” ( Goddess of Fortune), patroness
of the town and the sea.
ATTENZIONE !!!
La riproduzione o distribuzione, totale o parziale,
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