Amiternum revisited
- 6 days ago
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Back in Amiternum ten years on
Exactly ten years ago, on 1 August 2016, I visited the Amiternum archaeological park, just north of L’Aquila, for the first time. At the time, I wrote an article about it for this website.
On 2 August 2026, I returned. Not only because ten years is a fitting occasion to revisit such a special place, but also because this time I took part in a guided tour led by fellow classicist Lucia Tognocchi, who regularly organises cultural and historical tours via her website and Facebook page, Abruzzo in Itinere.
The monuments themselves have hardly changed over the past ten years. What has changed, however, is the way in which Amiternum’s history is presented to visitors. When I walked around here in 2016, the results of the extensive international research project carried out by the Universities of Bern and Cologne were barely visible on the site. Those studies have now been published, and the new insights have been incorporated into the archaeological park’s presentation. New information panels, reconstruction drawings and small exhibition spaces near the theatre and the amphitheatre make it much easier to understand the city in its original context. Reason enough to thoroughly revise my 2016 article.
From a Sabine settlement to a Roman city
The history of Amiternum dates back much further than Roman times. The fertile plain along the River Aterno was already inhabited around 5000 BC. From around the 10th century BC, Italic tribes settled here, who were later referred to as the Sabines by the Romans. They built fortified settlements on the surrounding hills, from where they could control the mountain passes and protect their herds.
At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the Romans conquered the area. Amiternum was subsequently developed into the administrative centre of the region. The town grew along the Via Caecilia, the main thoroughfare in this part of Abruzzo. A regular street layout emerged around this road, featuring public buildings, residential houses and infrastructure, including an aqueduct.
Livestock farming remained the main economic activity. Thanks to its strategic location along the routes of the transumanza – the annual migration of sheep between the mountain pastures of Abruzzo and the winter pastures in southern Italy – Amiternum developed into a prosperous town. Agriculture also played an important role. Pliny the Elder mentions Amiternum several times in his Naturalis Historia (1). The town was renowned throughout the Roman world for its excellent turnips and for a special variety of onion.
Theatre and amphitheatre
In the second half of the 1st century BC, Amiternum underwent a period of ‘monumentalisation’. It was then that the theatre was built, partly against a natural slope to the east of the Via Caecilia. Tragedies, comedies and other performances took place here. Part of the seating and the stage have been preserved to this day. The sculptural decoration is evident from finds including a statue of Hercules and marble theatre masks, which are now housed in the Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo.
In the late 1st century AD, the amphitheatre was built on the plain to the south of the Aterno. Gladiatorial combats and hunts were held here. The building is largely constructed of brick. The arena, the ring gallery and the outer colonnade are still clearly recognisable. It is striking that the building had to be reinforced as early as antiquity due to structural problems.
Both buildings remained in use for centuries. From the fourth century onwards, building materials were increasingly reused. In the Middle Ages, simple dwellings and burial grounds sprang up on and around the monuments. Nevertheless, Amiternum – or at least part of it – remained inhabited until the 15th century, well after L’Aquila had been founded.
New insights from international research
A key reason why a second visit yields so much more than it did ten years ago is the research carried out between 2006 and 2013 by the Universities of Cologne and Bern, in collaboration with the Italian Archaeological Service and other international partners. During this project, not only were excavations carried out, but geophysical surveys were also conducted: research techniques that enable archaeologists to detect walls, roads and other underground structures without digging.
The aim of the project was to gain as comprehensive a picture as possible of the city and its surroundings. It took years to process the enormous amount of data. The results have now been published and have led to a much better understanding of the scale and spatial layout of Amiternum. These new insights are now also displayed on the information panels in the archaeological park.
The ‘so-called peristyle house’
Close to the amphitheatre lie the remains of a large building that was known for many years as the domus a peristilio. The complex is built around a spacious rectangular courtyard with colonnades and featured richly decorated rooms with frescoes and mosaics.
Nevertheless, archaeologists are now reluctant to label the building as a dwelling. The information panels indicate that its function is uncertain. It may have been a market hall, the building of a trade guild, or a complex linked to the amphitheatre. That is why they now deliberately refer to it as the ‘so-called peristyle house’. It is a fine example of how archaeological research can add nuance to existing interpretations.
The Amiternum Calendar: the Roman year in marble
One of the most remarkable finds from Amiternum is this official town calendar, engraved in marble and dating from around 20 AD, during the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Originally, the calendar consisted of two large marble slabs: one showing the months from January to June and one showing July to December. The slab pictured here is from the second part. Centuries later, it was reused as building material in the church of San Vittorino, where it was eventually rediscovered.
The calendar illustrates how the Romans introduced not only their system of government but also their calendar system into the territories they had conquered. An official calendar of this kind was displayed in the forum of every city, from which residents could see which days were suitable for the administration of justice, trade, public assemblies, religious festivals and public activities.
A Roman month was organised differently from ours. The days were not numbered consecutively, but were counted from three fixed points: the Kalendae (the first day of the month), the Nonae (the fifth or seventh day) and the Idus (the thirteenth or fifteenth day). In addition, the calendar featured an eight-day market cycle (nundinae), designated by the letters A to H, with every eighth day being a market day. Other letters indicated the nature of the day: F (fastus) for days on which justice could be administered, N (nefastus) for days on which religious activities were forbidden, C (comitialis) for days on which public assemblies could be held, and EN (endotercisus) for days that were partly sacred and partly secular.
August magnified
The detailed photograph shows part of the month of August. Historical and religious notes are engraved between the calendar markings.
For example, on 13 August, the Ides of August, the goddess Diana is commemorated, together with the Etruscan god Vortumnus. Reference is also made to the worship of Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri) at the Circus Flaminius in Rome. The day before the Ides is dedicated to Hercules Invictus, the Unconquered Hercules, who was very popular in this region.
Thanks to the deciphering of the inscriptions, we know that the calendar not only contained practical information but also commemorated important events from the reign of Augustus, such as the dedication of the Ara Pacis, the victory at Actium, the annual Ludi Augustales and, on 19 August, the dies tristissimus: the anniversary of Emperor Augustus’s death in the year 14 AD.
This calendar was therefore much more than a practical overview of days and months. It demonstrated that public life in Amiternum, too, was attuned to the rhythm of Rome, whilst at the same time leaving room for local traditions and religious customs.
A second visit that was well worth it
Ten years ago, it was mainly the monumental remains of the theatre and the amphitheatre that made an impression on me. This time, I focused mainly on the town behind those monuments. Thanks to the updated information displays, the findings of years of archaeological research and Lucia Tognocchi’s expert commentary, I gained a much more complete picture of Amiternum than I did during my first visit.
(1) For example Plin. Nat. 19.27: est praeterea genus silvestre, cuius folia sunt erucae similia. palma Romae Amiterninis datur, dein Nursinis, tertia nostratibus. cetera de satu eorum in rapis dicta sunt.
‘There is also a wild variety, the leaves of which resemble those of rocket (rucola). The first prize (palma, the palm branch) is awarded in Rome to the inhabitants of Amiternum, the second to those of Nursia, and the third to those of our own district (nostratibus). The rest regarding its sowing has already been mentioned in the section on turnips.’
See also Pliny, Natural History 19.35.
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