According to the legend, Trasimeno, gorgeous son of Tyrrenus, was kidnapped and seduced by nymph Agille with the aid of the provoking Naiades. When Trasimeno died, the tears of the nymph were so plentiful to fill up a lake that took the name from the beloved Trasimeno. The Trasimeno lake, fourth in Italy by extension, has instead an average deep nearly ridiculous, more or less 6 meters deep. Until the fifties of the past century there was a serious risk of disappearing due to a lack of water: its tributaries are so short and water comes mostly from the rain. In last years waters have been taken also from different origins. This lake, in the past also called "di Perugia" (of Perugia), because it was so long under the predomination of the capital city of Umbria and several wars were fought for its conquest or the maintenance of the predomination. But of all the battles happened there in the neighborhood during the centuries, one in particular has remained in the history: the one among the other battles of the Second Punic War between the Carthaginian Hannibal and Roman consul Gaius Flaminius, on June 24 217 b.C. and that was concluded by the extermination of beyond 15,000 Roman soldiers.

Going on the fast road, running from Perugia heading towards the Val di Chiana, at the very ending of the tunnels which cover now and then the nice views on the great lake, you are able to see the western shores of the Trasimeno. Finally the crown of mounts to the right end, smoothly opening the sight on the territories of the ancients Clusium and Arretium. Getting off in Tuoro and easily arriving outside the little village, in a little valley that the pompous indications present as the place of the historical battle between the Carthaginian army and the Roman legions. Those signs actually seem to lead to nowhere and, driving for some kilometers, now just close to the bottom of the hills, you can start thinking: this could be the place. In that moment when you bring back to the memory the words of Titus Livy, you realize that what was only imagined now it becomes real: here you are, the hills become flat as they reach the edge of the lake, the green forests growing till arriving into the fatal corridor, here you are, the lake just two steps away. If you just consider also the humid weather and cold and that haze that smooths the sounds, the spell has been realized.

"in the middle there was a narrow road that seemed made for an ambush; at the end a plan a little more wider; hence the hills rose steep and high� the fog, coming form the lake, had got thicker either on the plan and on mounts". And Polibius " The road passed for a long valley with a flat bottom, having at its two flanks, for all its length, an uninterrupted chain of hills of considerable height and in the width of the bottom side it was overhung with a strong mount; behind this a lake which only a little stripe of earth left to the passage to the long valley, between the hills". And then myself: " I�m finally here, where it is happened". Tuoro sul Trasimeno (Perugia district): two thousand two hundred twenty-one years and some months later than that, I was there on the place to see with my eyes, don�t know what exactly, perhaps just to hear the echoes of that day, unfortunately disastrous for the fates of Rome.

I�m staying in the middle of this plan, encircled by hills, with the lake which closes the space at my shoulders. Just thinking that not are more than a kilometer is between me and each point of the edge of this C moon shaped area. If we consider that, based on the historical witnesses, on the field should be about 60,000-65,000 men, it is to believe that that summer morning back in 217 b.C. the knights, the throwers and the archers, war machines had to be anywhere, here and there. And then the runners, the wounded, the dead and the dying men; and charging horses and those driven crazy, the bustle and the shouts. It also comes to mind the reign of the vegetables could not be so, as I see it now, impassible, only waked up now by the rain that begins to fall. Or maybe it was so! Then, as today, nature was always impassible in front of this, one of the greater disasters of that age which was regarding, after all, only men, although regarding the next dominators of that world.

Born in Cartage in 247 b.C., member of the Barca family and son of Amilcare, Hannibal participated to the conquest of the Iberian peninsula when he was only nine, accompanying his father. Appointed general in 221 he began an aggressive campaign against Rome, by the conquest of Saguntum. After then he moved with its powerful army towards ltaly, crossing the snowy Alps and beginning one series of victorious battles against his enemy: Ticino, Trebbia and, finally, the Trasimeno. His forces were extremely heterogenous: Africans troops (Numidians, Libyans and Moors) and Iberian (Balearians and Astrurians). In the course of the expedition, rebellious populations of north Italy joined them, like the ones from Liguria. It is assumed that after the victories on Trebbia river they were approximately 70,0000 the natives allied with the Carthaginians. Only the Venetians and the Cenomans did not want to recognize Hannibal and maintained their autonomy, if we can name that autonomy. But because of the epidemics that ran between the army units, when they finally arrived in Tuoro, their number was come down to approximately 40,000 units, beyond having caused the extermination of all the elephants.

The enemy of Hannibal at the Trasimeno was Gaius Flaminius that, in spite he was member of a plebeian family, covered the cursus honorum making him elected as tribune and censor. He got the consulate in two occasions, became notorious earlier for the construction of great public works, such as the Flaminian Way and the circus in Rome with his same name. In the second occasion it had to face the Punic who was ready to invade the Italian peninsula. Many historians have considered Flaminius best as a politician than as a leader; this man, defined like an inept general by Mommsen, whose talent shone much more in the Forum that in the battlefields. For him his end was due above all for being victim of his same ambition and of his false convictions. Imprudent in its conduct of the battle it seems he was at least one of the few to maintain the balance of the nerves until was hit by the spear of the Insubrian Ducarius (Livy 22,6).

Romans, in order to contrast the arrival of Hannibal, with only eleven legions on the field, approximately 100,000 men; five were left as reservoir in Rome, in Sicily and in Sardinia, two were transferred to Spain and four left in Italy. Scipio, who could not be blamed for the defeat at the Trebbia river, was maintained to his former place in command and sent to Spain; the new consuls, Servilius Geminus and Gaius Flaminius were employed in Italy. Not being in a position to forecast what point Hannibal would have crossed the Appennines, the Senate, with a thought sent Flaminius to Arezzo to watch the western front, while Servilius would have protected Rimini, situated in an optimal strategic position. From these two points the Consuls could have converged, if necessary, in any place, and also perhaps encircle Hannibal. This defensive choice was unfortunately not so happy because it left with no forces the line that controlled the great Po valley. In the substance Hannibal was left free to wander as he wished, since Rome had not put into effect some initiative apt to prevent his invasion. Being left alone he would not have found obstacles in the whole area to north of the Rimini-Arezzo line.

With no doubt the leader had wondered if it had more sense to come down towards south or to try to maintain strongly in the acquired positions in the Po Valley and therefore make a stronghold in Italic soil For sure, consolidating the acquisitions in the north, it could have counted on a solid bridgehead, in order to facilitate the contact with eventual reinforces that they could reach from the road he walked since 218 through the Alps. Also he was expecting, as said previously, a lot of rebel populations allocated in that area, mainly Gaulish, happy to be freed from the enemy invaders of Rome. In order to proceed unexpected was necessary to cross the Appennines, essential to surprise the enemy. In May 217 b.C. the Carthaginians crossed the mountains, coming down towards Pistoia. After an easy march through the Appennine, the weather conditions got worse. The rains overflowed the campaigns and men and animals were forced to cover with great difficulty the marshy territories invaded by the mud. Just in the land between Pistoia and Fiesole, Hannibal met serious unexpected difficulties crossing the swamps. Transported by the only elephant survived, suffering for the loss of the sight of one eye, exceeded the swamps with its army in four days, also enduring serious losses.

Flaminius, against the opinion of some members of his staff, decided to run to the pursuit. Had he waited for Servilius the Roman armies could have surprised Hannibal tightening him between them and the troops allocated in Rome. Servilius in fact had abandoned Rimini, out of the games at that moment seen the itinerary chosen by Hannibal, and with the fastest speed was trying to cover a distance through Senigallia and Fano on the Adriatic Sea, and then to Foligno, along the Flaminian Way, meaning to join the other Consul. At this point Hannibal, expecting the hurries of Flaminius, deliberately attracted him exposing the flank of the army heading Cortona. The Roman, however, did not accept the combat and continued to keep himself on the footprints of Hannibal. The Carthaginian commander, knowing the movements of the enemies, thanks to the news supplied from guides and informers, knew that he had absolutely to avoid the rejoining between the legions, that would be happened likely more to the South. At this point the Carthaginian made another surprise, still today an object of reflection: the army did a remarkable conversion Eastward, to the direction of Perugia, along the northern river of the Trasimeno Lake, moving far away from the line leading to Rome.

On the dawn of that foggy day, June 24 217 b.C., according to the reformed calendar (correspondent to April of the Julian calendar), the Consul Flaminius gave order to his aide-de-camp, probably a man called Aulus Metellus, to hit again the road to the pursuit of the Carthaginians. The Romans, strong with an army of 25,000 men, entered in a column the strait passage, waiting this to widen ulteriorly in the closeness of a mansio ( what today is the village of Magione) on the road leading to Perusia ( not still Augusta) and then to Assisium. It left the entrance of the valley, on the road of Malpasso, and then camped there where today the village called Tuoro is. Perhaps Flaminius thought that the distance between the units of Hannibal and themselves was more than a day and, therefore, it seems that had been even cared to send guides in recognition.

According to Professor Giancarlo Susini, the Trasimeno lake was then considerable larger than now and therefore, he says the coast had to be nearly at the beginning of the natural amphitheatre I have described before. More detailed this is formed by the heights that go from Mount Gualandro to Montigeto; to the North the Mount Scosceso, adjacent with the territory of Terontola; to the East the wooded hills of Tuoro and to the West by narrow corridor that comes from the Tuscany land. The choice of this scene was not accidental, but a fruit of a elaborated plan of battle. Hannibal in fact, already ready, had meant to meet with the legions of Rome not before having carefully prepared the land, and in that precise place where variations of direction were not possible. The evening before, Hannibal hurried to make light some fires on hills of Tuoro so that the Roman were believed its troops farther than how they were in truth. It had moreover arranged its men so to encircle the enemies completely. At the exit of Malpasso placed the Gaulish troops and the endowed arch cavalry, to the feet of mounts arranged the stone-throwers, while the large part of the army, constituted by the infantry (than in the front line should take spears, sword, shields and helmets, was placed cross-sectionally, just before the field, in Montigeto.

In this way the enemies, after overtaking the point with no return of the Malpasso, they would be remained blocked without any possibility of defense: the entrance would have been blocked by the Gauls, from the north side cavalry and light infantry, to the right the Carthaginians from the main part of the army, to the back the lake. The commander placed then its field where is now the village of Passignano, more to the West, protected by the Libyans and the Iberians, from where he prepared the dynamics of the battle carefully, which to be honest, seemed more an ambush. At a precise sign suddenly, from the top of hills, protected by the fog, the troops of Hannibal arrived simultaneously from all the parts, on the Romans. From the surrounding hills they came down, with an enormous force of collision, the cavalry and the infantry of the Carthaginians attacked the army from every direction. The Romans did not have the time of spread its lines how they were accustomed to do and were forced to fight in scattered order, coming pushed out easily towards the lake, without possibility of escape. The battle infuriated more than two hours and the disaster was then complete: nearly two Roman legions were destroyed, 15,000 soldiers remained on the field and 6,000 made captive. When the battle was finished, approximately four thousand Roman knights, sent in reconnaissance by Servilius, reached the Trasimeno, while the large part of the troops still were marching in order to join the men of Flaminius. Nobody knew about the events and when the cavalry was next to the Malpasso, it hardly returned on his own steps to avoid the Carthaginian army. Hannibal, not satisfied of the victory, sent the commander of his cavalry, Maarbale, against the Roman unit which was caught up and destroyed near Assisi. Vary scholars, according to the main sources represented by the Greek Polibius and Titus Livy, have tried to reconstruct in a punctual way the map of the places of the battle. At the moment two hypotheses have been told in order to establish as much as possible the battlefield: the hypothesis supported by H. Nissen (that is the one I have used describing the facts and places above) and the hypothesis supported by J. Kromayer, even if today the greatest part of the experts believe more reliable the first hypothesis.

In 1867 H. Nissen had assumed a battlefield where the lake left a wide space, extended within the two contiguous valleys called Sanguineto and Vernazzano, enclosed between waters, the crown of the northern hills of the Trasimeno Lake and the narrow entrances of Malpasso and Montigeto. To these fundamental geographic-historical elements, the position of the Hannibal camp, H. Nissen add his position to be over the hill on which Tuoro is now, in a dominant position, at the very center of the war scene. J. Kromayer was saying instead the hypothesis that the battle field had extended more to the East, comprising the hills overhanging Passignano sul Trasimeno. But, while until now the hypothesis that at the age of the battle the lake had a greater extension seemed to prevail, more recently contrary theory is coming, saying that the dimensions of the lake would have been less than believed. If that were true, the battle area would have to be increased remarkably, even though the area of Tuoro would remain its main place. In any case, if it still remains to be define exactly the theatre of the battle, its importance remains unquestionable, above all for the repercussions that it had.

Aware that an attack against Rome would have been vain now, although the road was now opened, Hannibal turned the way towards the Appennines, in direction of the Piceno area, where he could have made men and horses rest. The disaster of the Trasimeno provoked in Rome a crisis of such a gravity that the traditional provision to name a dictator, in disuse for more than thirty years, was replaced. A constitutional crisis was opened in the city until an appointment of a dictator, the Quintus Fabius Maximus, by a part of the people, to whom the commando of the army was entrusted.

The names of many places, like Ossala, Sepoltaglia, Pian di Marte remind us still today the massacre (in Italian they sound like Place-of-bones, Place-of-tombs, Valley of Mars, respectively). The same Malpasso name, which means literally "Bad passage", says clearly about the fate of who, some centuries ago, passed here. Same story for the flat valley where had place the battle of the Trasimeno which is today called Ca� de Giano. Perhaps the name of the God Ianus is posterior and attributable more than the local toponymic origin to the historian Polibius. At the side of the valley some channels take water from mount Scosceso; it�s said that for the blood poured in the waters the red color had given the name to the locality which here is: Sanguineto (Bloody place).

A lot of objects of archaeological interest have been found in all the area, many of them back from the Republican age or from the first period of the Roman empire. In particular a statue was found with Etruscan-Roman dictates "L�arringatore del Trasimeno", representing an Etruscan prince who wears the toga praetexta haranguing the crowd. This statue was found buried in a field to the south of Sanguineto. Today it is in the Archaeological Museum of Florence. More correlated to the battle, the only rests found on the territory seem to be some handcraft of lime with a log-conical shape, the ustrinae, situates in the area of Tuoro and that, according to some scholars, could have been part of a system put in action by Hannibal in order to burn the many bodies of the victims to the aim of avoiding eventual epidemics. For other authors they would be a matter of ancient furnaces for the lime production. Also supposing that this last explanation was true, nothing can exclude that Hannibal has used them for that scope. In spite of the signals indicating the road to the ustrini, I was not able of finding them.

But when I read that William Thyer also in its travel diary, published on one of more popular site about the Roman world, asserts the same, this has made me feel better.

William Thayer�s Lacus Curtius, Il mondo romano, Taccuino:

Pagina del Comune di Tuoro(PG):

Pagina della Regione Umbria:

Pagina turistica sul lago Trasimeno:

Pagina turistica di " Va Sentiero Viaggi":

Sito di Arte e Historia:

Pagina sulle grandi battaglie della storia:

"Storia dei Romani", Tito Livio

"Storie", Polibio

"Annibale, eroe del Trasimeno" di Massimo Centini

Articolo di Lorenzo Innocenti:

Articolo apparso sul quotidiano "La Padania":