del Gallo Castle and Gardens of Horace
del Gallo Castle and Gardens of Horace
There is a corner of Italy, between Rome and Subiaco, where time seems to have decided to slow down. Here, between the gentle profiles of the Mandela hills, flow the Aniene and Licenza rivers, the same ones that the poet Horace celebrated in his lyrics over two thousand years ago. A real and imagined place at the same time, where nature, history and art intertwine in a delicate balance.
33 BC
Horace receives the villa in Sabina
The Latin poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, better known as Horace, was granted a villa by his patron Maecenas — a central figure in Augustan cultural politics — situated in a lush and secluded countryside between the hills and the Digentia stream (now called the Licenza). Horace also mentions in his First Epistle to a Friend that it brings him joy to bathe in the Licenza River during the summer, which flows beneath the village of Mandela, at the edge of the farm. This residence served as a contemplative and philosophical retreat for Horace. Here, he developed a vision of the landscape as a space of harmony and inner freedom, reflected throughout his writings.
In his works — notably the famous Epistle I, 16 — Horace lyrically describes the Sabine landscape: “...the brook murmuring among the rocks,” “the twisted olive tree and the shade of the trees,” “the hut sufficient for a wise man.” His words not only immortalise the place but also establish it as a cultural ideal: a living landscape, a dialogue between man and nature, free from constraints.
After Horace’s death (8 BC), the villa passed into imperial hands, used as a resting place en route to the residences at Subiaco (Nero’s villa) and Arcinazzo (Trajan’s villa).
Middle Ages (9th–13th century)
Fortification of Mandela and the Benedictine Influence
With the fall of the Roman Empire, the territory suffers depopulation and instability. The fortified village of Mandela is born , strategic in the Aniene valley. The area is controlled first by the Abbots of Subiaco , then by the Orsini Family .
The memory of the Horatian villa is reinterpreted in the Christian world: the landscape is no longer just a refuge, but also a sacred and agricultural place, close to the monastic paths.
1706
The arrival of the Nuñes-Sanchez family
Mandela Castle was purchased by the Nuñes-Sanchez family, Portuguese nobles in the service of the Church who began a major restructuring of the Castle.
They also created an Arab or formal garden with hydraulic systems in the keep, and transformed the beautiful views over the agricultural land surrounding the Castle into an English landscape park.
In 1726, the Marquis Vincenzo Nuñes Sanchez, a devout Dominican, commissioned a church dedicated to San Vincenzo Ferrer, a Spanish miracle-working friar and preacher. The project was entrusted to Girolamo Theodoli, known for having also worked on Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Rome. The Church was decorated with frescoes by Corvi and Odazzi.
18th century
del Gallo Family, Marquises of Mandela
From the mid-eighteenth century, ownership of the Castle and lands of Mandela gradually passed to the del Gallo family, an ancient Roman family of medieval origins.
The marriage between the Nuñes-Sanchez and the del Gallo family marked this transition, consolidating the bond between Roman nobility and international aristocracy. From then on, the del Gallo family became custodians of the estate, initiating a long phase of cultural, agricultural and architectural transformations.
1835
The del Gallo Family and Julie Bonaparte
They created an international “cultural salon” that attracted prominent figures from the French Academy, as well as writers and intellectuals travelling the Grand Tour.
The del Gallo/Bonaparte family took care of the gardens and the English landscape, enhancing Hackert’s “ideal views”. They added a romantic French woodland with shaded paths and a microclimate for the strolls of Julie's guests of the salon. This was not merely an ornamental intervention, but a garden designed to “appear natural,” in keeping with the spirit of the English landscape tradition.
The myth of Horace regained central importance: the landscape was rediscovered as an “inner” and aesthetic landscape, in line with nineteenth-century sensibilities.
19th century
Mandela becomes a privileged stop on the Grand Tour
Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the European route to classical Italy often passed through Mandela, a village in the Aniene valley on the way to Horace's Villa. The place captivated young aristocrats, scholars, and artists drawn to its landscape and rich cultural layers. Goethe, alongside German, French and English landscape painters - including Jakob Philipp Hackert - frequented the castle and its surroundings. The Horatian “inner landscape” was transformed, through a Romantic lens, into a space of reflection and identity.
The del Gallo family contributed to this vision, shaping the environment as a garden of the mind. Described in travel diaries as a “poetic and melancholic fortress,” Mandela Castle became a cultural crossroads.
del Gallo Castle and Gardens of Horace
The Ideal Views
Intorno al Castello di Mandela si sviluppa la celebre “veduta ideale”, concepita nel Settecento da Jacob Philipp Hackert, pittore di corte della regina Maria Carolina. Hackert selezionò un punto privilegiato lungo il colle affacciato sul fiume Licenza, per dipingere una serie di vedute, tra cui tre dedicate a Mandela. Questa prospettiva panoramica, composta e armoniosa, riflette la filosofia romantica e neoclassica del “paesaggio secondo natura”: non una rappresentazione fedele, ma una ricostruzione ideale, intesa ad evocare un luogo della memoria, del raccoglimento, dell’ispirazione.
Oggi, il giardino inglese del Castello mantiene questa visione: le quinte arboree disegnate con querce, cipressi e lecci, e la torre Giulia rivolta verso la valle, ripristinano l’esperienza visiva originaria, facendo rivivere in parte la stessa atmosfera che affascinò Goethe e gli artisti romanticisti.
Il Castello del Gallo e i Giardini di Orazio non sono semplicemente un luogo da visitare, ma un organismo vivo e pulsante, un laboratorio straordinario dove paesaggio, storia e comunità si intrecciano in modo unico. Qui la natura non è solo uno sfondo, ma un vero protagonista, che dialoga con la cultura e la spiritualità di un territorio ricco di memorie e fascino.Il complesso ospita regolarmente concerti, attività educative per tutte le età, eventi culturali e cammini naturalistici che permettono di scoprire questo luogo in modo immersivo e partecipato.
Oggi, il Castello del Gallo e i Giardini di Orazio aprono le loro porte al pubblico, offrendo l’opportunità di vivere un’esperienza autentica: camminare nella storia, in un paesaggio che non è solo bello da vedere, ma da sentire e vivere intensamente, al fresco del microclima del bosco romantico. Visitare il Castello del Gallo e i Giardini di Orazio significa immergersi in un tempo lento, lontano dal ritmo frenetico della vita quotidiana, per riscoprire un legame profondo con la memoria del territorio.
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