Recherche par auteur > Dominici Corso

This paper will investigate the relevance of land features, such as forests, rivers, ponds, or mountain tops, in determining the choice of a sanctuary as a place of religious experience, by reassessing the case-study of the Lake of Idols, at the springs of the river Arno, on the top of the Falterona Mountain. Nowadays, ascending the Falterona to reach the Lake of Idols is a daylong walk from the nearby town of Stia, in the Casentino, the verdant upper portion of the river Arno valley, in north-eastern Tuscany. The pond is part of the natural springs system from which the Arno originates and was a place of cult between the 6th and the 2nd centuries BC, as evidenced by the presence of a very rich votive deposit, with hundreds of bronze statuettes and other metal objects. Notably this place of worship lacked any form of built environment, suggesting the idea that the cult itself may have had animistic features (Warden 2016). How ancient Casentino dwellers ascended to this place, and why they did it? Was the Lake of Idols actually a sanctuary? How come there was no temple? What was the object of cult? Answering these questions will contribute in problematising the relationship between place, cult, and environment, both built and natural. In order to address these questions, I will focus on three features: the forest, the water, and the absence of built environment. I will therefore present three GIS models (least cost path analysis, viewshed analysis, terrain model) for a paleo-environmental reconstruction of this part of central Italy, highlighting the predominance of forested land. Going to the Lake of Idols, much as it is today, may in fact have been a walk through the forest, and through a forest of firs to be more precise. Arguably the presence of such forest may have been one of the most relevant features, impacting on the way the ancient inhabitants of Casentino lived and traversed this land, and thus contributing substantially to the definition of the religious experience connected with the Lake of Idols. The forest may have provided a ready natural architectonical background, suitable enough for staging religious actions. The role of water will be investigated through a comparative study with a selected series of other similar cases in Italy (the Fonte Veneziana at Arezzo, the sanctuary of Cupra at Cupra Marittima, and the sanctuary of Mephitis in the Ansanto Valley). Finally, the alleged animistic feature of pre-Roman spirituality in Central Italy will be problematised in relation to what we know of the cult in sanctuaries associated with built temples (Poggio Colla, Monte Torre Maggiore). Such animistic aspects may in fact have been apparent mostly in areas far from densely settled cities, while remaining one of the core spiritual elements of pre-Roman and Roman religiosity.