Elisabetta Scungio
Sapienza University of Rome; Vatican Museums, Italy
In Northern Latium (Italy), not far from Rome, there is a valley called Suppentonia, an isolated beautiful natural place where an otherworldly atmosphere reigns. It is because of that feature, those hermits, who first settled inside its previously excavated grottoes, chose it for their secluded life. According to the local tradition, some of them (Saint Anastasius, Saint Nonnosus) would have become the leaders of later important monastic communities of the area.
This paper aims to investigate the process of occupation of pre-existing grottoes — dug in pre-Roman times for living and funerary purposes — by 6th century anchorites, their way of life and the
continuity of attendance in those places. The research has focused on the grotto of Saint Leonard, a three-room-artificial cave, looking to be a church used for common celebrations by the ascetics who temporarily left their hermitages to share the cult. As a matter of fact, some liturgical furniture (two altars, niches, a holy water font) is still kept, and by comparing it with other similar artifacts in the Roman area, it has been possible to date it back to the 6th century. Furthermore, several traces of Christian paintings are still preserved on its side walls, testifying its liturgical use. Following their stylistic features, it has been said the earlier decorations date from the 11th century, a moment that is highly probable because of the general renaissance of ascetism experienced in all Western Europe. That happened after the crisis of the monastic system due to the enormous political and economic power of great abbeys, which caused a detachment of many monks who wanted to rediscover the purity of the monastic phenomenon origins. Later, the grotto was still kept in use, as testified by the panel depicting a gigantic Saint Leonard, probably painted in the 14th century, which gives its name to the place.
This study also examines the oral tradition about the legendary meeting between pope Gregory the Great (591–615) and Langobardic queen Teodolinda (589–624) in the grotto of Saint Leonard
itself, demonstrating there is no real historic proof of it in contemporary sources, but being important for the comprehension of the strategic value of that area for the defense of early 7th century
Rome.