La colonia maritima di Minturnae was created in 296 BC on the right bank of the Liris (Garigliano), with the purpose of controlling the mouth and the course of the river itself. The river led to the more internal zones of central Lazio, and was therefore the connection between these and the coast. The colony has a square plan with walls and towers in opera poligonale, and regular subdivisions inside which were arranged the principal roads, the cardus and decumanus, corresponding to the urban tract of the via Appia. In the second half of the first century BC, the temple dedicated to the deified Caesar, the nymphaeum and the Caesareum (seat of the priestly college instituted for the cult of Caesar), were built in the north quadrant of the Castrum. In the north-eastern corner rose another temple, today known as temple L, and the northern side was occupied by two other temple areas.
The latest excavation is one of the rare scientific interventions in this important Roman colony, which include only older excavations from the 1930s and episodic interventions, still unpublished, conducted on several occasions in the last post-war years.
Among the most important finds are an impressive number of architectural elements of luxurious stone belonging to the monumental buildings and discovered along the sidewalks and on the pavement of the via Appia antica where it ran through the city. Also brought to light were footings of the monumental doors of the enclosure of the temple of the deified Caesar, and several fragments of inscriptions, some belonging to a very large monument. The contexts date the occupation between the middle of the first century BC and the sixth century AD.
(Givanna Rita Bellini)