ONCE UPON A TIME ...

Excursions outside Rome

In the nineteenth century, the joyful Sunday excursions outside Rome (known as "gite fuori porta" or outside the gates) that famed Roman poet Gioacchino Belli sang in his witty sonnets were made aboard colorful buggies, carts and stagecoaches. Not on trains, because railroad stations were too far away. In the early twentieth century, thanks to modern technology, these excursions turned into gay trips on Stefer streetcars that rattled happily up to the Alban Hills. Some of the cars were double-deckers; the top deck was called "Imperial" and had a long seat running down the center that allowed passengers to take in the whole wonderful view. These picturesque little trains ran day and night, up and down the Roman Campagna to link the Alban Hills to the city, and on weekends would be literally bursting to the seams with passengers from the lower and middle classes for what amounted to a spontaneous rendezvous. Among these holiday-makers would be a great many Roman "beverini" , drinkers, heading for the Alban Hills' wine-cellars to solemnly celebrate the rites of Bacchus. More than a pleasure trip, this was a sort of secular pilgrimage with stops at fraschette and grottini (wine-cellars) in the Alban Hills. Each stop was a good chance to taste the nectar of the local vineyards. At the end of the day, the last train back to Rome, the "tropea" train, would be filled with euphoric travelers who, though exhausted, would challenge each other in singing popular songs and ad-libbing off-color verses. The streetcars left Rome from near the Passenger's House, near the Termini railroad station, stopping at Porta San Giovanni, at Via delle Cave and on the Appian Way. The first stop outside the city was Tor di Mezza Via, on the Via Tuscolana. the line then headed for Casal Morena, Villa Senni and the Grottaferrata crossroads (whence a branch went to Frascati), and from there to Valle Violata and Valle Vergine, where the funicular railway for Rocca di Papa took off. The route continued to Marino, Castel Gandolfo, Albano, Ariccia and Genzano, finally ending up in Velletri.

History of the tramway

Stefer started out in 1898, when the Thomson-Houston de la Méditerranée Company applied to the Italian Public Works Ministry and the City of Rome for a license to run several electric streetcar lines. To qualify, on November 29, 1989, Thomson-Houston established the Rome Electric Streetcar and Railroad Company (STEFER). Since it expected that the Rome-Frascati railroad would soon be electrified, Stefer also designed (after the Frascati-Squarciarelli road was built) a new route that would touch all the towns along the Provinciale Maremmana road: Marino, Castel Gandolfo, Albano, Ariccia and Genzano. The license was obtained, and construction started on December 29, 1901. It proceeded quickly, and on January 19, 1906, the Rome-Frascati track opened for business. The following March, the tramway reached Marino, and after that Castel Gandolfo, Albano and Genzano (respectively on April 1, 2 and 4). It was a very long route, and the ride from one end to the other took more than three hours. Later on, a faster private cable railway (closed down in the 1960s) linked the Castel Gandolfo station to the shores of Lake Albano. A new direct line from Rome to Albano, which served all the areas along the New Appian Way, was inaugurated on March 4, 1912. Trains departed once an hour, and the whole ride took about 50 minutes. The tracks reached Genzano and Velletri on September 12, 1913, and Lanuvio in 1916. During World War II, bombing damaged the tracks. From 1944 to 1948, the line was shut down. The trams started running again only after the Ariccia bridge had been repaired. By that time, however, the Alban Hills streetcar lines had started to decline. In August 1954, the Genzano-Velletri, Marino-Albano and Grottaferrata-Frascati segments were closed down. The Rome-Grottaferrata-Valle Vergine and the Valle Violata-Marino segments shared the same fate in December 1962, and the Rocca di Papa funicular and the Rome-Genzano line a month later. Without harping about the good old days, one can't help thinking that these valuable routes could have been updated and turned into light suburban railroads. Considering how chaotic car and truck traffic outside Rome has become, they would have been very useful indeed. Passenger flows have turned around, because the Alban Hills have become the sleeping quarters of precisely the kinds o people who used to go there only to have fun and drink a glass of good wine.

The funicular railway to Rocca di Papa

In October 1906, a set of tracks was laid out from Squarciarelli (or Valle Violata) to Valle Oscura, where, the funicular railway to Rocca di Papa was inaugurated the following August. This funicular was driven by water (a truly environment-friendly solution!), that is, by the weight of a water tank installed on top of each car. The tank was filled at the top of the line, and acted as a counterweight as it slowly emptied out till the car reached the lower station. The altitude differential was 105 meters, and the maximum angle was 385 per thousand. Twenty-five years later, in 1932, the old funicular was abandoned and replaced with a new electric-powered one. The line was moved 1 km away, and the differential was reduced to 92.75 meters. The funicular had only two cars, one that left from the top and one from the bottom of the line; each had 43 seats and standing-room for 39 passengers.

Festivities and gastronomy

All along this wonderful route one could encounter festivities, events, famous people and food specialties. In Frascati: the Tusculan Summer and the famous pupazze (hard cookies shaped like three-breasted women), as well as Frascati wine. In Rocca di Papa: strawberries, mushrooms, polenta and wild chestnuts. In Grottaferrata: the St. Nilus Festival and the farm-animal fair on September 8th. In Marino: the Grape Festival, when the Moors' Fountain pours forth wine instead of water. This festival, held in October, was created in 1925 by the poet Leone Ciprelli to celebrate the victory of Marcantonio Colonna, lord of Marino and commander of the papal fleet, over the Turks at Lepanto in 1571. Other important festivals were those dedicated to St. Barnabas (Marino's patron saint) and St. Lucy. Local dishes included fettuccine, roast rabbit and fried fish, washed down with plenty of local wine. In Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer retreat, where the pre-Roman city of Alba Longa once stood: the Peach Festival and St. Sebastian's Day (St. Sebastian is the town's patron saint). On the table: trout, lake bass and Colli Albani wine. On Via dei Villini stands the Art-Nouveau-style home of the famous comedian Ettore Petrolini, who in 1926 wrote the very well-known song "Nannì" or "An excursion to the Alban Hills," which Romolo Balzani sang at the Grape Festival. In Albano, birthplace of Rome-dialect poet Trilussa: festivals for St. Pancratius (May 12), St. Francis (October 4) and Santa Maria della Rotonda (first Sunday of August). Another long-gone festival was that of the Minenti, that is, local devout women who, returning after their nighttime pilgrimage to the Madonna of Divine Love sanctuary, would merrily stop to eat and drink in Albano's taverns. In Ariccia: porchetta (roast suckling pig) and Albano wine reigned on St. Apollonia's Day (July 29). In Genzano: on Corpus Domini day, the traditional "Infiorata," a long carpet of "paintings" made of flower petals. Pappardelle in hare sauce, roasted mushrooms and wine from the nearby Lanuvini Hills were most popular. In Velletri: more festivals, and tables laden with cabbage soup, artichokes, mushrooms and white Grechetto wine. All these different towns had one feature in common: the good wine of the Alban Hills, which our happy travelers were so fond of. Nowadays, unfortunately, grottini, fraschette and wine-cellars have been turned into high-class venues. The once-beloved taverns have been sanitizes, deprived of their old mold and ancient smells. Even their signs have been "modernized": they now spell out "Hostaria," a word mistakenly thought to be Latin, which merely announces a very high, five-star bill at the end of your meal.

Wine carts

The area was and is full of good wines, such as sweet "cannellino" from Frascati; robust Marino wine, stored in local stone quarries; Castel Gandolfo wine, aged in barrels placed inside Alba Longa's caves; tasty wine from Albano and Lanuvio, and so on to the precious nectar produced in Velletri. These wines used to be transported to Rome on very slow wine carts. Once they got there, though, their taste was different than when they had started out. This was usually said to be due to oxidation from contact with the air and to the wine's sloshing around during the trip, but tampering along the various stages of the trip – by winery employees, cart drivers, wine retailers and innkeepers – most probably had something to do with it! That is why our merry travelers preferred to drink their wine on site.