Monte Vettore (from Latin Vector, "carrier", "leader") is a mountain of the Umbro-marchigiano Apennine Mountains in Italy. It is the highest peak of the Sibillini massif. It is located in Ascoli piceno, Marche, Italy.
The local medieval tradition was that the Apennine Sibyl, a mysterious prophetess not counted among the Sibyls of Classical Antiquity, was condemned by God to dwell in a mountain cavern and await Judgement Day, having rebelled at the news that she had not been chosen Mother of God, but that some humble Judaean virgin had been favored. The peak of Monte Vettore, surrounded by reddish cliffs was recognized as the crown of Regina Sibilla.
Monte Vettore summit view with Maile
Less stringently Christian legend set her in an underworld paradise entered through a grotto in the mountains of Norcia. Nearby the magical lake is fed by water from the cavern. Whoever stayed longer than a year could no longer leave, but remained deathless and ageless, feasting in abundance, amid revelry and voluptuous delights.
In popular culture
In Il Guerrin Meschino, written by Andrea da Barberino about 1410, the central episode of the sixth part (Canto V) contains the "prodigious adventures" of Guerrino with this enchantress, the "Fata" Alcina, whom he seeks out, against all advice. He locates her cavern in the mountains of central Italy with the aid of Macco, a speaking serpent. She shows him the delights and horrors of her cavern, where sinners have been changed to the appropriate animals, but where sin is the only path to the knowledge of his real parents that he seeks, and Guerrin has to flee.[2]
The long informative captions in the maps of Ortelius' 16th-century atlas, Cartographia Neerlandica, offer some detail about this Apennine Sybil:
The Mountain Apennine here looms over the country with exceedingly high cragged tops, in which one finds that huge cave called Sibylla's cave, (in their language Grotta della Sibylla) and which the poets would have the Elysian Fields. For the common people dream about a certain Sibylla [supposed] to be in this cave, who [is claimed to] possess a large kingdom full of gorgeous buildings and Princely palaces, covered with pleasant gardens, abounding with many fine lecherous wenches and all kinds of pleasures and delights. All of these she will bestow on those who through this cave (which is always open) will come to her. And after they have been there for the period of one whole year, they have the freedom and liberty given to them by Sibylla to depart (if they please) and from that moment, having returned to us, they state that they live a most blessed and happy life ever after. This cave is also known to our countrymen by the name of VROU VENUS BERGH, that is, The Lady Venus mount.[3]
Locally the Sibilla was in some sense a beneficent fata whose retinue would descend from her mountain at times to teach the village girls all the secrets of spinning and weaving (see Weaving (mythology) for other European weaving goddesses), and perhaps to dance the saltarello with the best of the young men. But if they were not back in their mountain fastness by sunrise, they would be denied access and would become mere mortals. On one occasion, what with dancing and pleasure, the faterelle had not noticed the approach of dawn. Scrambling up the Vettore, their goatlike feet crushed the rock to fragments. They reached the safety of their grotto just before dawn, but the long slope of talus is still pointed out as the Path of the Fata.
Monique Bouquet and Françoise Morzadec, 2004. La Sibylle: Parole et représentation. Collection "Interférences". (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes) discusses Antoine de la Sale's Paradis de la Reine Sibylle.
Related Research Articles
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Marche, in English sometimes referred to as the Marches, is one of the twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the central area of the country, and has a population of about 1.5 million people, being the thirteenth largest region in the country by number of inhabitants. The region's capital and largest city is Ancona.
Norcia, traditionally known in English by its Latin name of Nursia, is a town and comune in the province of Perugia (Italy) in southeastern Umbria. Unlike many ancient towns, it is located in a wide plain abutting the Monti Sibillini, a subrange of the Apennines with some of its highest peaks, near the Sordo River, a small stream that eventually flows into the Nera. The town is popularly associated with the Valnerina. It is a member of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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Monti della Laga is a mountain range in the central Apennines of Italy. Their ruggedness and inaccessibility makes them one of the lesser known areas of the Italian peninsula.
Acquaviva Picena is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Marche. The village lies on a hill over the Valley of Tronto, just a few kilometres from the Adriatic Sea and San Benedetto del Tronto. From the top of the hill, it’s possible to see the Sibillini Mountains, and even the further away Gran Sasso and Majella.
Montalto delle Marche is a comune (municipality) and former Latin catholic bishopric in the Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Le Marche, located in the hilly area that goes from the Adriatic cost to the Sibillini Mountains, at a distance of about 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of Ancona and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) north of Ascoli Piceno, with a population of 1 991 inhabitants. The municipal territory covers a 34 km² area.
The Sibillini Mountains, or Sibylline Mountains are one of the major mountain groups in the Italian Peninsula, and part of the Apennines range. Most of the peaks are over 2,000 m (6,600 ft); the highest is Monte Vettore at 2,476 m (8,123 ft).
The Piano Grande is a large plateau, 4,000 ft above sea level in the central Italian Apennine mountains. The Piano is flanked by the Sibilline group of mountains, the highest of which is Monte Vettore at 8,123 ft (2,476m). The Piano is a karstic basin composed of porous limestone that holds underground reserves of water, and it supports an astonishing array of wildflowers in the spring and summer. Its single village, Castelluccio (Norcia), is perched on a high rock in the middle of plateau, and is famous for the small delicate lentils which are grown in the surrounding plain.
The prehistory of Italy began in the Paleolithic period, when species of Homo colonized the Italian territory for the first time, and ended in the Iron Age, when the first written records appeared in Italy.
Lago di Pilato is a glacial lake located in Sibylline Mountains, among Apennine.
Cima del Redentore is a mountain of Sibillini Mountains of Apennines.
Il Guerrin Meschino is an Italian prose chivalric romance with some elements of verisimilitude, written by the Italian cantastorie, systematizer and translator from French Andrea da Barberino, who completed it about 1410.
Monti Gemelli is the name given to two similar mountains, Montagna dei Fiori and Montagna di Campli, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. They are located in the Province of Teramo.
Monsampietro is a frazione (hamlet) of the comune (municipality) of Venarotta in the province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Marche. The territory is part of Diocese of Ascoli Piceno.
Sebile, alternatively written as Sedile, Sebille, Sibilla, Sibyl, Sybilla, and other similar names, is a mythical medieval queen or princess who is frequently portrayed as a fairy or an enchantress in the Arthurian legend and Italian folklore. She appears in a variety of roles, from the most faithful and noble lady to a wicked seductress, often in relation with or substituting for the character of Morgan le Fay. Some tales feature her as a wife of either King Charlemagne or Prince Lancelot, and even as an ancestor of King Arthur.
Sibilla may refer to:
Mount Ascensione is a 1,110 m high elevation in the Marche sub-Apennines, located entirely in the province of Ascoli Piceno. It straddles the valleys of Tronto and Tesino, a river that originates just north near Force. The profile of Ascensione has a jagged appearance that suggests different figures: depending on the vantage point, it may resemble the Sleeping Beauty or the profile of Cecco d'Ascoli, a heretic and opponent of Dante Alighieri. The views from the east northeast and from the west southwest are perfectly symmetrical.
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