Fasti, iii. 273.
After two miles of a picturesque and shady road, crossing four viaducts, and commanding beautiful views, we arrive at
GENZANO.
Its excellent wine is renowned, and this, together with its flowers and beautiful situation, are its sole attractions. The flower festival, held the eighth day after Corpus Christi, is fully described in "The Improvisatore." Up a path by the side of the Palazzo Cesarini we obtain a fine view of the
LAKE NEMI,
which occupies an extinct crater. The lake is three miles in circumference, and 300 feet deep, and passes out by an artificial emissarium, made by Trajan. The water is calm and marvellously clear.
Trajan erected on this lake a floating palace, 500 feet in length, 270 feet in breadth, and 60 feet deep. It was of wood, joined with bronze nails, and lead plated outside; the inside was lined with marble, and the ceilings were of bronze. The water for use and ornament was supplied from the Fount Juturna by means of pipes. Signor Marchi, a Roman, in 1535 descended in a diving-bell and explored this curious palace, which had sunk beneath the waters. He left an account of his discoveries. (See Brotier's "Tacitus," Sup. Ap., and Notes on Trajan.) A large fragment of the wood-work is preserved in the Kircherian Museum.
On the opposite side is the small medieval town of
NEMI,
picturesquely situated upon a hill above the lake. On the sides of the lake are the remains of villas built of opus reticulatum; and in the sixteenth century some of the wood-work, tiles, &c., of Cæsar's Villa—begun, but afterwards pulled down because it did not suit his taste—were found, and are preserved in the Library of the Vatican.