Angitia

Angitia — the Latin rendering of the Oscan Anagtia — was an Oscan goddess of healing and serpents, revered above all by the Marsi, the warlike mountain people who lived east of Rome in the Apennines, in the region later called the Marsian Hills. The Marsi spoke a Sabellan dialect and were known throughout Italy not merely for warfare, but for medicine, enchantment, and command over snakes. Angitia stood at the center of this reputation. She was famed as the one who healed poisonings, especially snakebite, and who could destroy serpents through spoken charms alone. Her people shared in Her craft: the Marsi were remembered as healers, magicians, and snake-charmers, and even in the present the local Serpari — the hereditary snake-catchers of that country — continue to be held in unusual esteem. By the 1st century CE, Roman writers regarded Marsian territory as a land thick with witchcraft, divination, and curative arts.

Her power was tied not only to venom, but to pharmaka. Angitia was renowned for knowledge of healing herbs, roots, and remedies, and in Her honor there stood both a sacred grove — the Silva Angitia or Lucus Angitiae — and a temple with its own treasury on the southwestern shore of Lake Fucinus. This was once an immense inland lake, more than thirty miles around, with no natural outlet, notorious for flooding the nearby settlements after the spring rains, until its eventual draining in the nineteenth century. The Marsian legendary seer Umbro belonged to this same sacred current. Like Angitia, he was remembered as both healer and serpent-charmer, one who could neutralize venom and cure bites; and the old epic tradition in the Aeneid says that when Umbro fell in battle, Lake Fucinus itself wept for him.

Even Her name preserves the atmosphere of danger and remedy. Angitia may derive from angere, “to trouble” or “to choke,” in reference to Her force against serpents, or from anguis, “snake” or “serpent,” directly linking Her to the ophidian domain. Some inscriptions invoke not a single Angitia but the Angitiae, a plural grouping of powers, much as other local cults multiplied a goddess into attendant forms. In one inscription She appears beside Angerona, the goddess of Silence and the Winter Solstice, suggesting that Her cult moved in circles of hidden speech and seasonal mystery. Late Roman tradition adds yet another layer: Servius reports that Angitia was the Italian name given to Medea after the Colchian sorceress fled west when her attempt to poison Theseus was discovered. The identification is unsurprising. Medea was inseparable from drugs, enchantment, dragons, and venom, and thus Roman antiquarians naturally fused her with the native Marsian goddess whose dominion was likewise serpents, magic, and the healing of poison.

Today - Serpari

The Serpari (snake-catchers) are traditional, expert snake handlers in Cocullo, Abruzzo, Italy, who catch harmless snakes in the weeks leading up to the May 1st feast of Saint Domenico. During the festival, they adorn a statue of the saint with the snakes and parade it, honoring a saint believed to protect against snakebites before releasing the animals safely.
Key Details About the Serpari and Festival

• The Ritual: The Serpari catch, study, and care for local, non-venomous snakes (like Grass snakes and Four-lined snakes) and place them on the statue of Saint Dominic during a special procession.
• Significance: The ceremony blends Catholic faith with ancient pagan traditions, celebrating the saint's protection against toothaches and poison.
• Conservation: The snakes are treated with care, often monitored and treated for parasites by researchers before being released back into their exact, original habitats shortly after the event.
• Location: The event takes place annually in the medieval village of Cocullo, Italy.

The Serpari are integral to maintaining this unique cultural, historical, and religious festival, acting as both custodians of local folklore and protectors of the local snake population.

see also

Medea