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The Lovers' Terrace in Nemi: a belvedere born from two mythological love stories
The Lovers' Terrace overlooks Lake Nemi, about 30 km from Rome, in the Castelli Romani area. Inaugurated on 14 February 2015, it owes its name to two love stories from local mythology: that of Diana and Virbius, and that of Numa Pompilius and the Nymph Egeria.
Diana and Virbius: dying, being reborn, starting over in Nemi
Hippolytus was the son of Theseus and a devotee of Artemis — the Greek goddess whom the Romans identified with Diana. He was so devoted that he aroused the jealousy of Aphrodite, who used a potion to make his stepmother Phaedra fall in love with him. Hippolytus rejected her; she wrote to her husband accusing Hippolytus, and then took her own life. Theseus asked Poseidon for vengeance, and the god unleashed a sea monster against Hippolytus's chariot — the horses trampled him and tore him to pieces. But Artemis had him healed by Asclepius, disguised him as an old man to deceive Hades, and brought him to Nemi. There Hippolytus became Virbius, husband of the goddess and priest of her temple.
Egeria: the nymph who turned into a spring
The other love story is that of the Nymph Egeria and Numa Pompilius, who drew inspiration from the nymph for his religious law-making. When the king died, Egeria took refuge in the woods of Nemi, and wept so loudly that she disrupted the ceremonies in honour of Diana. Out of pity, the goddess transformed her into a spring. In the valley by the lake a grotto was dedicated to her, still visible to travellers on the Grand Tour.
