La «ragguardevole proprietà» di Melania e Piniano: nuove ricerche

Since 1905, when Cardinal Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro published his important book about the life of Melania the Younger, scholars have believed that the estate of the Valerii, mentioned in Melania’s Vita as situated on a beautiful site, should be located on the coast south of Messina, a place from where its occupants could look out both at the sea and at the woods teeming with wild animals. However, if we read more carefully the passage and its context, the location suggested by Rampolla seems probable but not incontestable. This paper aims to illustrate the reasons why it is possible to propose various different hypotheses about the location of the villa of the Valerii.