Editing Bomarzo

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{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                = Bomarzo
| official_name       = Comune di Bomarzo
| native_name         = 
| image_skyline       = Bomarzo.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| image_alt           = 
| image_caption       = 
| image_shield        = bomarzo-stemma.gif
| shield_alt          = 
| image_map           = 
| map_alt             = 
| map_caption         = 
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_alt     = 
| coordinates         = {{coord|42|28|N|12|14|E|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| region              = [[Lazio]]
| province            = [[Province of Viterbo|Viterbo]] (VT)
| frazioni            = Mugnano in Teverina
| mayor_party         = 
| mayor               = Ivo Cialdea
| area_footnotes      = 
| area_total_km2      = 39.65
| population_footnotes = 
| population_total    = 1791
| population_as_of    = 30 April 2017
| pop_density_footnotes = 
| population_demonym  = Bomarzesi
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m         = 263
| twin1               = 
| twin1_country       = 
| saint               = St. Anselm
| day                 = April 24
| postal_code         = 01020
| area_code           = 0761
| website             = {{official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20111008133252/http://www.comune.bomarzo.vt.it:80/}}
| footnotes           = 
}}
[[File:Bomarzo- Chiesa di S.Maria della Valle.JPG|240px|thumb|Church of Santa Maria della Valle.]]

'''Bomarzo''' is a town and ''[[comune]]'' of the [[province of Viterbo]] ([[Lazio]], [[Central Italy]]), in the lower valley of the [[Tiber river|Tiber]]. It is located {{convert|14.5|km|mi}} east-northeast of [[Viterbo]] and {{convert|68|km|mi}} north-northwest of Rome.

== History ==


The city's current name is a derivation of ''Polymartium'', first mentioned in the ''Historia Langobardorum'' by Paulus Diaconus. The etymology ''"polis martium"'', city of Mars, suggests a Roman origin. However, archeological evidence for a Roman city has not been found so far. However, a Roman brickmaking factory established nearby may have been owned by [[Domitia Calvilla]], the mother of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. 

It was a historical [[fief]]dom of the [[Orsini family]], whose [[castle]] is at the edge of the densely built town, until it was sold to [[Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rovere]] in 1645. Lante was elevated to the title of ''Duke of Bomarzo''. 
 
== Main sights ==
{{main|Park of the Monsters}}
Bomarzo's main attraction is a [[garden]], usually referred to as the ''Bosco Sacro'' ([[Sacred grove]]) or, locally, ''[[Park of the Monsters|Bosco dei Mostri]]'' ("Monsters' Grove"), named after the many larger-than-life sculptures, some sculpted in the bedrock, which populate this predominantly barren landscape. 
[[Image:Bomarzo-Sphinx-Wen-GNU.jpg|thumb|220px|left|A [[sphinx]] at the entrance of the Park of the Monsters.]]
[[File:Bomarzo Italy by SF William.jpg|thumb|Bomarzo]]

It is the work of [[Pier Francesco Orsini]], called ''Vicino'' (1528&ndash;1588), a [[condottiero]] or mercenary and a patron of the arts. He was greatly devoted to his wife [[Giulia Farnese (Latera)|Giulia Farnese]], daughter of Galeazzo Farnese, Duke of Latera, (not to be confused with her maternal great-aunt [[Giulia Farnese]]) and when she died, he created the gardens.  The design has been attributed to [[Pirro Ligorio]], a well known architect and antiquarian of the time.

The park of Bomarzo was intended not to please, but to astonish, and like many [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] works of art, its symbolism is arcane; for example, one large sculpture is of one of [[Hannibal]]'s [[war elephant]]s, which mangles a [[Roman legion]]ary, and another is a statue of [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]] lounging on the bare ground, with a vase of "fruits of the earth" perched on her head.

The many monstrous statues appear to be unconnected to any rational plan and appear to have been strewn almost randomly about the area, ''sol per sfogare il Core'' ("just to set the heart free") as one inscription on an obelisk says.

Enigmatic verses in Italian  by [[Annibale Caro]], Bitussi and [[Cristoforo Madruzzo]], some of them now eroded, were inscribed onto stone beside the sculptures.

The reason for the layout and design of the garden is largely unknown: perhaps they were meant as a foil to the perfect symmetry and layout of the great [[Renaissance]] gardens nearby at [[Villa Farnese]] at Caprarola and [[Villa Lante]] at Bagnaia. Next to a formal exedra is a tilting building, the so-called ''Casa Storta'' or Twisted House.

A small octagonal temple was added about twenty years later to honor Orsini's wife, Giulia Farnese.

During the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, the garden became overgrown and neglected but in the 1970s a program of restoration was implemented by the Bettini family, and today the garden, which remains private property, is a major tourist attraction. In recent years, a number of the stone sculptures have had fences put around them.

The [[Surrealism|surreal]] nature of the Parco dei Mostri appealed to [[Jean Cocteau]] and the great surrealist [[Salvador Dalí]], who discussed it at great length.  The poet [[André Pieyre de Mandiargues]] wrote an essay devoted to Bomarzo. [[Niki de Saint Phalle]] was inspired by Bomarzo when she created her ''Tarot Garden'' in Tuscany.  The story behind Bomarzo and the life of Pier Francesco Orsini are the subject of [[Bomarzo (novel)|a novel]] by the Argentinian writer [[Manuel Mujica Láinez]] (1910–1984), ''Bomarzo'' (1962).  Mujica Láinez himself wrote a libretto based on his novel, which was set to music by [[Alberto Ginastera]] (1967).  The opera ''[[Bomarzo (opera)|Bomarzo]]'' premièred in Washington in 1967 but in Argentina it was banned by the military dictatorship. The Dutch magic-surrealist painter [[Carel Willink]] used several of the park's statue groups in his paintings, including ''The Eternal Cry'' and ''Balance of Forces''.  A mystery novel by [[Linda Lappin]], ''Signatures in Stone'' (2013), investigates the symbolism of the Sacred Grove, its relation to the myth of [[Persephone]], and recent theories concerning the designer of the park.

== Sources==
* {{cite book|title=Guida al Parco dei Mostri|publisher=Società Giardino di Bomarzo|location=[[Vitorchiano]]|year=2002}}
* Elli Mosayebi, Christian Mueller Inderbitzin "Bomarzo - Beobachtungen anhand einer neuen Karte", Institut für Landschaftsarchitektur, ETH Zürich, 2005, {{ISBN|3-906441-06-7}}
* Richtsfeld, Bruno J.: Der "Heilige Wald" von Bomarzo und sein "Höllenmaul". In: Metamorphosen. Arbeiten von Werner Engelmann und ethnographische Objekte im Vergleich. Herausgegeben von Werner Engelmann und Bruno J. Richtsfeld. München 1989, S. 18 - 36.

{{Commons category|Bomarzo}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130718182712/http://www.bilder-download.org/index.php/img-galleries/bomarzo Pictures from town, buildings and the castle of Bomarzo]
* [ GigaCatholic (episcopal see) with titular incumbent biography links]
* [http://www.culturediscovery.com/Lazio/Bomarzo-The-Monster-Park-/-Sacred-Grove.html Pictures of the Monster Park from Culture Discovery Vacations]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081224031633/http://www.bomarzo.net/index_en.html The Park of the Monsters] {{in lang|it|en}}
* [http://cyberitalian.com/html/gal_36.htm Gaither Stewart, "The eighth wonder of the world: Bomarzo"]
* [http://digilander.libero.it/epiur/bomarzo.htm Il parco dei Mostri di Bomarzo: Pegaso group article]
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Viterbo/Bomarzo/Bomarzo/home.html Thayer's Gazetteer of the Lazio]
* [http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/Jardin/bomarzo.intro_english.html J.E. Berger Foundation: Bomarzo]
* [http://www.gardener.ru/?id=1394 Bomarzo gallery]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110824032452/http://pauladelacruz.com/bomarzo.pdf Gorgeous Grotesques, by Paula de la Cruz, GARDEN DESIGN, Nov/Dec 2009]

{{Province of Viterbo}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Bomarzo| ]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Lazio]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 1550s]]
[[Category:16th-century establishments in Italy]]