Area archeologica di Alba Fucens

The most extensive Roman ruins in Abruzzo occupy a grassy plateau at Alba Fucens, a Latin colony planted by Rome in 304/303 BC on land taken from the Aequi. Walls, temples, baths and an amphitheatre survive in open country below Monte Velino, within the Sirente-Velino regional park, north of Avezzano.

Why it matters

Alba Fucens is among Abruzzo's major archaeological areas, where the Roman colonial town remains legible across the plateau. The settlement was founded at the end of the fourth century BC in a position the Ministry of Culture describes as strategic for the control of central Italy, on elevated and well-fortified ground at nearly 1,000 metres above sea level, about seven kilometres north of Avezzano. Because the city slipped into decline after antiquity and was never covered by later building, the Roman street grid remains legible at ground level, with public monuments standing in meadow rather than among modern houses.

What to notice

The city was enclosed by a circuit of large, finely fitted stone blocks that adapts to the contours of the hillside; four urban gates opened through it and are partly preserved. The ancient streets include the via del Miliario, via dei Pilastri and via dell'Elefante, around which public and private buildings are grouped. A colonnaded portico, identified as the diribitorium, was used for public assemblies; a three-naved basilica; the macellum, or food market, ringed with shop fronts; and bath buildings where raised floors on small brick pillars, the suspensurae, once circulated hot air beneath mosaic pavements. South of the baths lies the Sanctuary of Hercules, whose colossal seated marble statue, found here, is now displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Abruzzo in Chieti. On the southern side of the plateau, the elliptical amphitheatre of the first century AD, cut into ground previously occupied by a private house, closes the view.

Context and history

Rome planted the colony after defeating the Aequi, and the Via Valeria ran along the central axis of the plateau, tying the town into the road system of the peninsula. The earliest layout included the first wall circuit, forum and comitium. A theatre and aqueduct followed in the second and first centuries BC; the amphitheatre, baths and temple buildings belong to the Julio-Claudian age. On the hill south-west of the city, a temple dedicated to Apollo was erected in the third century BC; its story continues in the church of San Pietro that occupies the site today. When the western Empire fell, the town drained away; by about the sixth century AD it stood empty, its people gone to the medieval village of Albe that was taking shape on the heights to the north-east. The city came back to light through the excavations of the Belgian Academy carried out between 1949 and 1979, together with more recent research.