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Licenza in the Lucretili Mountains: the village of the poet Horace, a stone's throw from Rome
Licenza clings to a ridge in the Lucretili Mountains, in the metropolitan area of Rome, overlooking the stream that gives it its name. In ancient times it was called Digentia, like the river, but through a corruption of the language it became Licenza. Here Quintus Horatius Flaccus received a villa from Maecenas between 33 and 32 BC, and retreated there to write, read, and find peace. The village is small — fewer than 1,000 inhabitants — but it has an unexpected density of things worth seeing.
A castle that was contested for centuries
The Orsini family controlled the castle at least from 1191, when Pope Celestine III granted it to them. In 1632, Mario, Carlo, and Ettore Orsini sold two-thirds of the fief to Prince Marco Antonio Borghese. This was followed by exchanges, repurchases, and papal decrees: by 1761 the Borghese family owned everything. The Baronial Palace in the fortress is the visible mark of those transitions — today it houses the Horatian Archaeological Museum.
What to see
The Villa of Horace covers about 40 hectares, and contains mosaic floors, a thermal area and a porticoed garden. Nearby is the Nymphaeum of the Orsini, built on the site of the ancient Fons Bandusia mentioned in the Odes. In the village is the Church of the Immaculate Conception. In Civitella di Licenza there is the MusAq, a museum dedicated to the golden eagle of Monte Pellecchia.
