Foundation and history
Legend has it that the name Ninfa derives from a Roman temple built near the current garden and dedicated to the deities of spring waters.
Ninfa was part of a larger territory called Campagna e Marittima . In the 8th century, it became part of the papal administration and played a strategic role due to the presence of the Via Pedemontana, which allowed travel to the south, avoiding the often swampy Appian Way.
From the 11th century, Ninfa assumed the role of a city and was governed by various noble families such as the Tuscolo and the Frangipane, under whom the city's architecture flourished and Ninfa's economic and political importance grew: in 1159 , Cardinal Rolando Bandinelli was crowned Pope Alexander III in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore , the ruins of which are still visible today. Then there were the Counts, the Colonna family, and finally the Caetani.
Between 1297 and 1300, through a complex series of acts, Benedetto Caetani , known as Pope Boniface VIII , led his nephew Pietro II Caetani to the acquisition of Ninfa marking the beginning of the stable presence of the Caetani in the Pontine and Lepine territory.
1. Santa Maria Maggiore - 2. San Giovanni - 3. Water Games - 4. Via del Ponte - 5. Piazzale della Gloria - 6. Two-Light Bridge - 7. Roman Bridge - 8. Bamboo Spring - 9. Ninfa River - 10. Town Hall Square
14th - 17th century
In 1382 Ninfa was sacked and destroyed by troops supporting the antipope in the Great Schism.
The city was never rebuilt, partly because of the malaria that plagued the nearby plain. The few remaining inhabitants left, leaving behind the remains of a ghost town; the Caetani themselves moved to Rome and elsewhere. The churches continued to be officiated by the inhabitants of the nearby hills throughout the 15th and part of the 16th centuries, before being abandoned.
Today there remain the ruins of six churches whose frescoes were detached in 1971 to be preserved in the Caetani Castle of Sermoneta: San Giovanni, San Biagio, San Pietro Fuori le Mura, San Salvatore, San Paolo and Santa Maria Maggiore.
In the 16th century , in 1578 to be precise, Cardinal Nicolò III Caetani , a lover of botany, wanted to create a "garden of delights" in Ninfa and commissioned the architect Francesco Capriani from Volterra. He commissioned the Hortus Conclusus, a walled garden with a regular layout, to be built next to the medieval fortress, where prized citrus varieties were grown, including the Citrus Cajetani. In the 17th century , Duke Francesco IV, "good at managing flowers," also took charge of the Hortus Conclusus, but malaria soon forced him to abandon Ninfa as well. Of his work, the water springs and fountains remain.
From the 18th century to today
At the end of the nineteenth century the Caetani family returned to their long-abandoned possessions.
Ada Bootle Wilbraham , Anglo-Scottish noblewoman and wife of Onoraro Caetani , after having looked after the garden of Villa Fogliano, the Caetani's summer residence, with her son Gelasio began to take care of Ninfa.
They removed much of the weeds that overgrown the ruins, planted the first cypress trees, holm oaks, and beech trees—now majestic—abundance of roses (the first were brought from Villa Fogliano), and restored some ruins, including the baronial palace (town hall), which became the family's country home and now houses some offices of the Roffredo Caetani Foundation. The garden's creation was guided primarily by sensitivity and sentiment, following a free, spontaneous, and informal approach, without a fixed geometry, striving from the very beginning to imitate Nature.
Marguerite Chapin , Roffredo Caetani 's wife, later took charge of the Garden and opened the doors of the garden to the circle of writers and artists linked to the literary magazines she founded, “Commerce” and “Botteghe Oscure”.
The last heir and gardener was Lelia , daughter of Marguerite and Roffredo Caetani. A sensitive and delicate woman, she tended the garden like a large painting , being a painter herself, combining colors and encouraging the natural growth of the plants, without forcing them and avoiding the use of pollutants. Together with her mother, Marguerite, she introduced numerous magnolias, prunes, roses, and countless other species and varieties of shrubs and trees; and created the Rock Garden, also known as “Colletto.”
Donna Lelia established the Roffredo Caetani Foundation in 1972 , five years before her death, in order to protect the memory of the Caetani family, to preserve the Garden of Ninfa and the Castle of Sermoneta and to share the Caetani cultural heritage with the community.
