Horace, the Poet
A path to history, a passage to art
Parchi, giardini romantici e borghi
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC), known as Horace, was a Roman poet at the times of Augustus (Octavian).
The son of a freedman, he could study in Athens at the Platonic Academia; in the Greek town he met Marcus Junius Brutus and followed him in the Republican Army, soon defeated at the Battle of Philippi. Back in Rome, his friend Virgil introduced him to Maecenas, Octavian's lieutenant; later, Horace shared a genuine friendship not only with Maecenas but with Augustus as well.
Horace, who in the course of time attained the status of eques Romanus, received from Maecenas the famous gift of his Sabine farm, after the publication of the first book of Satires.
The Villa is located not too far from the Castle of Mandela, and the areas which climb towards the Castle's hill, are presumedly those in which the Poet used to walk, waiting for inspiration.
He spent indeed his free time here, in the area that he himself called Pagus Mandela, and perhaps wrote some of his verses here too. This should be the opinion of Corot, the painter that portrayed him in these valleys, under a wood and next to a river (the Licenza river).