Subject
In his Notti romane (Roman Nights), Alessandro Verri (1741-1816) imagines a nocturnal walk among the monuments of the city, in the company of the spectres of ancient Romans. In Colloquio Sesto, Notte Quinta (Sixth discussion of the Fifth night), the author arrives at the Nymphaeum of Egeria with Cicero and other spirits, where they are struck above all by the spiritual silence enveloping the grotto. The only perceptible sounds are the trickle of the spring waters and the gentle breezes creeping through the foliage, with the presence of a few animals and nocturnal birds cleaving the sky. All is silent, in an atmosphere of composed and fearful reverence: “Sacred and ancient is the silence of the Egeria Valley.”
Placement
The British Library
Credits
Google Books, The British Library
References
Le Notti Romane del conte Alessandro Verri sulle ruine della magnificenza antica, Tomo II, Firenze 1824.
