Even today the Torre di MezzaVia, erected as a watch tower, seems to survey the place
where two important roads to Rome meet, the Via Tuscolana and the Via Agnanina.
The construction of the tower goes back to the XIII th century according to Giovanni Maria De Rossi, while according to Lorenzo Quilici it dates back to the XII th century. The name rccalls a halting place for travellers going up the Via Tuscolana from Rome to Frascati (here we are halfway) and dates back according to De Rossi to the XIV century (according to Giuseppe Tomassetti to the XVI century). In more recent centuries the place has also been called Quadrato. The reputation of a halting place was underlined by the fact that in the past there was an inn inside the tower, a fact recalled in a poem by Augusto Jandolo in the Eighteenth century. It was, also, in competition with the Osteria del Curato, not far away.
Texts of different scholars and writers tell us a lot about the place. In particular here is
the detailed study of Lorenzo Quilici in "Collatia", but also the studies of De Rossi ("Torri
Medievali dellaCampagnaRomana") and the invaluable work of Tomassetti ("Campagna Romana Antica Medievale e Moderna"). Most of the following information is derived. from these sources.
The tower was erected on the ruins of a Roman villa of the Empire period (I B.C. or more probably the Flavian or Hadrian age). It incorporates various ancient structures and, inside, a monumental complex of great historical interest, where we find testimonies of Roman and medieval times. In particular, there is nearby a Roman water tank (evidently belonging to a suburban villa) of the imperial age which has recently been restored.
The place can be dated as around 1200, according to documents mentioned by Tomassetti, with the place name of Fontana di Papa, referring to the Roman cistern. In the Middle Ages the property which included the tower belonged first (XIII century) to the Mardoni Family (which was, perhaps, responsible for its construction) and later to the monks of St Lawrence in Panisperna, owners for a period, too, of the nearby Torre dei Santissimi Quattro Coronati. In this period the site took the name of Grotta dei Mardoni- referring therefore to the Roman cistern - while the tower was probably associated with that of the same age of the Santissimi Quattro Coronati, situated not far away in the locality of Ponte Linari.
In the Eighteenth century the Torre di MezzaVia and that of Santissimi Quattro Coronati belonged to the same proprietor, Avv; Lunati . From the first half of the following century, however, the tower was part of a large property of the Doria Pamphili family, let out to the Rampa family (after whom the nearby Rampa farm, was named). The grounds, of about 200 hectars, were bounded more or less by the Via Tuscolana and Via Anagnina, together with territories for the public use in Campo Romano.
The tower, inhabited until the mid 50's , had inside it a workshop for a horse-shoer and blacksmith. This shows that it was, almost to the last, a halting place for carts (barrocci)travelling up and down the Via Tuscolana.
Structure of the tower
The tower, of a square shape, rises inside a vast enclosure,and is 6.6. m wide and 19 m high at the topmmost point of the roof. It was situated here to substitute the orginal crowning achievement, probably crenellated before being reduced in height only in recent times.
The structure of the tower is in brickwork "a sacco " filled in with fragments of flint, up to
a height of 3.6 m. All the upper part is in " tufelli " parallelepipeds of well stratified peperino
with bricks and pieces of marble here and there. At the entrances of the ground floor, and
upper floor, one enters through a modern stairway that opens on the North West side. The
room on the ground floor is roofed by a cruciform vault, while the upper floors are
structured with re-inforced wood. There is just one modern window on the ground floor, and on the upper floors windows on two levels, some of which were walled up in ancient times.
Inside the medieval enclosure, the tower is situated at the centre of the short north east side, leaving some spaces occupied respectively by a small sixteenth century courtyard and by a
recent hut ( before this there existed nothing inside the enclosure).
Medieval enclosure
The enclosure extends towards the South West for 44m, compared with 22 m around the short side of the tower and the 34m of the opposite side and probably dates back to the XII century.
The structure of the enclosure is all in concrete and peperino, with some brick or fragments of white marble, and mortar. The wall, more than 3m high, from ground level inside, ends with a round profile at the top, while at the base there are drainage outlets.
There are, halfway up the walls of the enclosure, holes for scaffolding that, along the inside , were used also for erecting a wooden communication trench for patrol.
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Roman masonry incorporated in the medieval complex
As far as the parts constructed in Roman times are concerned, the tower was erected on the remains of foundations of the imperial age, still visible in the southern edge of the building. The ancient structures that we see on the the ground floor level are all works in reticulated tufa, mostly red in colour. In parts there are also bands of brickwork with harmonious toothing patterns.
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The facade to the North East of the building with back to the tower on the inside of the enclosure, is roofed with cruciform vaults and is almost all "opus reticolatum"( diagonal design with square bricks), except for two bands in normal brickwork. Large fragments of wall or vaults in "brickwork a sacco " with surrounds in tufa, belonging to these same rooms, are found on the ground floor inside the enclosure, not far from the tower itself. North of the tower there are some ancient structures situated around the enclosure .At the same time, it is possible to recognize others, below ground level, descending into grottoes, down a stairway below the one leading to the upper level of the tower.
An ancient well, today full, was pointed out to Quilici by an old farm worker, by the southern edge of the small sixteenth century courtyard. We can recognise other ancient structures on the south west side of the enclosure, from which it is possible to observe the whole side built completely on a wall in "opus reticolatum", including the curved side which forms the south edge.
Roman cistern
The cistern, probably of the Augustan or Flavian age, is situated about 50 m. from the tower and is the most significant structure, belonging to the Roman villa, remaining visible. It is rectangular in shape and its side measures about 9m by 8m while it rises to a height of about 6m. The space inside measures about 5.7 m. by 5m.
The cistern is on two levels, like that of the Gregna Farmhouse, which was transformed into a
farmhouse only in a later epoch.
The interior has a barrel vault (with a central hole as inlet for water on the south east side). A large part of the original coat of plaster remains.
Having been used in past centuries as a habitation, the cistern still retains the gaps corresponding to a door and a window. The building technique of the monument is recognizable from the masonry in concrete of tufa, with surrounds in "opus reticolatum", alternated with bands in work , on the quadrangular structure, while the spurs are in " tufelli "at regular intervals on horizontal levels. The arches are in brick and also the flat arch and the tympanum of the door in front of the stairs. The tufa used in the "opus reticolatum" is prevalently peperino, alternated with rows in yellow tufa; but the composition from a chromatic point of view seems, however, quite free, with the inclusion also of red tufa.
