Home > The lake > Anguillara Sabazia

Anguillara Sabazia

The largest city by population of the lake is known for its picturesque old town and the prehistoric village submerged

The story

Anguillara Sabazia is a medieval village situated on a promontory which advances towards the center of the lake.
His name has nothing to do with eels, but seems to derive from an ancient Roman villa “Angularia”, because it is built just where the coast forms a right angle.
The country was a fief of the family for many centuries Anguillara, up to 1488, year of death of the last heir. The castle was then bought by Gentil Virginio Orsini of Aragon, but in the 1693 the House, now choked by debt, Trevor and his family gave Anguillara Grillo and Bracciano Odescalchi family.
Since the end of 1700 We have no news of the country except in fragmentary form.
In recent decades Anguillara's back and be a tourist destination particularly coveted by the Romans and foreigners, not only for the weekend but also for long stays.

To visit

The country, located in a picturesque location on the lake, has maintained its medieval center.
The main course in a straight line going through it until the Collegiate (Church of the Assumption). Access is guarded by a door in the sixteenth century, surmounted by a clock. On the left of the square opening toward the lookout embellished by Fountain of Eels, on the right stands the sixteenth Baron's Palace, seat of the Comune, which preserves precious frescoes recently restored.The country, located in a picturesque location on the lake, has maintained its medieval center.Behind the building there are the bastions of Tower medieval years the Museum of Rural Life and Popular Culture (now in the process of moving). Looming over the city center on Church of the Assumption, whose terrace has panoramic views of the lake. Inside, a valuable Assumption of 1592, by Jerome Muziano and Madonna and child that each 8 September is carried in procession through the streets to the church of Anguillara Our Lady of Grace on the lakefront.
In the lower part of the village is the church of San Biagio, patron of the city. Not far from the city center is the Church of St. Francis, that has interesting frescoes of the fifteenth century.
In the vicinity of Anguillara are the remains of several ville romane.
Finally, it must be remembered that in the 90s on the lake bottom in La Marmot has been made an extraordinary archaeological discovery: the discovery of a Neolithic village dating back to 5500 a.C., the oldest settlement of the bank so far discovered in Western Europe. Among the many exhibits, now preserved at the National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography "L. Pigorini "in Rome, a canoe over 10 meters long carved out of a single trunk of oak.

Photo: Courtesy Andrea Franciosi