On the plateau at the east end of the lake, to our left of Nemi, his excellency Sir John Savile Lumley, the British ambassador, has recently made some most interesting excavations—uncovering the vast area of the Temple of Diana at Nemi, and at the same time discovering numerous objects of interest, which proved without doubt to whom the shrine was dedicated.
The front of the temple was formed with a portico of fluted columns, and its rear was towards the lake, so the temple faced east. The whole Artemisium shows traces of many restorations, not the least interesting being that made by Marcus Servilius Quartus, consul A.D. 3, whose tomb is on the Via Appia (Tacitus, "A." ii. 48; iii. 22).
When Iphigenia, priestess of the Temple of Diana at Tauris in the Crimea, fled with her brother Orestes, they carried off the statue of Diana, to whom all strangers cast on the coast were sacrificed, and founded a temple near the Lake of Diana, now Nemi, on the Alban Hills (Ovid, "Ep." iii. 2; "Met." xv. 485). "The temple is in a grove, and before it is a lake of considerable size. The temple and water are surrounded by abrupt and lofty precipices, so that they seem to be situated in a deep and lofty ravine" (Strabo, v. 3, 12).
THE FOUNTAIN OF JUTURNA.
This issues from the hill under the village, and serves the mill on the border of the lake. "Tell me, nymph Juturna, thou that wast wont to minister to the grove and looking-glass of Diana" (Ovid, "F." iii. 260). "The springs by which the lake is filled are visible. One of them is denominated Juturna, after the name of a certain divinity" (Strabo v. 3, 12).
A ramble through the woods brings us to the adjoining lake at Palazzolo, which is generally seen in the distance from the opposite side of the lake.
PALAZZOLO.
"And near, Albano's scarce divided waves
Shine from a sister valley."
Situated on Lake Albano, or it may be reached from Albano or Marino by other roads passing round the Lake Albano. It is a Franciscan monastery. In its gardens is a tomb supposed to be that of Cneius Cornelius Scipio Hispanus, B.C. 176.