Anguillara Sabazia is a city and comune in the metropolitan city of Rome, Lazio, central Italy, about 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest of Rome. It nestles on a small promontory on the coast of Lake Bracciano; its medieval center and beach make it a popular destination for tourists.
Anguillara is served by a local train (“FR3” line, or Rome-Capranica-Viterbo railway) which connects it with Rome (Roma Ostiense and Valle Aurelia stations) in about 40 minutes.
About 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) east of the city is the small volcanic lake Martignano, also popular with tourists. The two lakes and the surrounding area have been declared a Regional Park and are subject to rigorous naturalistic control. A two-part episode of the American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond was filmed in the city.
What to visit in Anguillare Sabazia?
Religious architecture
- the collegiate church of Santa Maria Assunta is located on the highest point of the promontory where the old town and the neighboring terrace rest. The town was completely rebuilt in the sixteenth century; many houses retain the medieval structure of overlapping, unpartitioned rooms, as large as the entire building and connected to each other by a central staircase that leads to the floor of the upper room.
- the fifteenth-century church of San Francesco and its frescoes
- the medieval church of the Madonna delle Grazie on the lakeside, with the fresco of the Madonna with Child (which later became a sanctuary due to a miracle)
- the sixteenth-century church of San Biagio, with its paintings
- the small church of the SS. Trinità, from 1689, near the cemetery, just outside the historic center
Civil architecture
- the sixteenth-century gate, an ancient entry point to the city, surmounted by a clock and joined by a sixteenth-century bastion to the medieval tower;
- the medieval tower, now home to the Museum of Rural Civilization and Popular Culture;
- the town hall with its frescoes;
Other
- Claudia water source: in Anguillara there is the Clavdia (Claudia) natural effervescent water source.
- the fountain of the Earth
Archaeological sites
- Neolithic village. In the locality “La Marmotta” a Neolithic village dating back to around 8,000 years ago was discovered, now submerged by the waters of the lake. During the underwater excavations, important finds were recovered, including five dugout canoes. One of them is visible at the Luigi Pigorini National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum. Another, 9.50 meters long and originally broken into two parts, found on 31 July 2005 at 12 meters deep, is today preserved in a 12-metre case, containing substances suitable for consolidation, at the Neolithic Exhibition Center in Anguillara Sabazia, where it has been possible to view it since 1 October 2006. The Center is located near the train station, in via Anguillarese.
- the Roman bridge that crosses the ditch along Via della Cannella;
- the Roman remains on Vicolo Grondarella;
- Roman villa of the Walls of Santo Stefano
Public monuments
- The Warrior: created by the artist Mauro Martoriati, is located near the intersection of via Tolstoi and via Anguillarese.
Natural areas
- the beaches and clubs of the hamlet of Vigna di Valle, located in a gulf on the southern shore of the lake.
- Regional natural park of the Bracciano – Martignano lake complex
Photo by Valter Cirillo da Pixabay.
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