Private tour of Minturno

Lazio, the cradle and the homeland of Italian archeology, gives its visitors a warm and special welcome, making it immediately enjoy its inestimable archaeological beauties. In fact, shortly after crossing the border between Region of Campania and Lazio, on the right bank of the Garigliano River, meet the ruins of the ancient City of Minturno (or Minturnae as the Romans said), an area of ​​enormous historical and monumental value. Guilty of being deployed on the side of the Sannites in the wars between the latter and the Romans, Minturnae, as well as other cities in the area (Ausonia and Vescia), was conquered and completely razed to the ground by the Romans winners. A merely fortuitous event marked the rebirth of this settlement: for the will of the consul Appio Claudio Cieco around 312 a. C. was built the Appia Way which was running from Rome to Capua and passing through the center of the old and destroyed Minturnae. Then, in 295 BC, the Romans, including the economic and commercial potential of the old enemy city (proximity to a navigable river, to the sea and to Appia Way), decided to reconstruct it and to give it even the privileged status of Roman citizenship, which It means that its inhabitants enjoyed Roman citizenship and its monuments had to resume as faithfully as possible to Rome as the Roman colony was almost a “clone” of true Rome.
Over the centuries, the city has lived in various phases (primitive phase, late republican phase, August phase and Adrian phase) and therefore various changes that led to the abandonment of the spartan aspect of “castrum” soon to be enlarged to embellish new monuments and new temples, to expand with new residential areas and finally to move from a city of tufa (republican age) and stone (augustean age) to a masonry city under Emperor Adriano (II century AD ). The visit to the ruins of Minturnae will therefore be a trip to the time, as it will allow you to get through the monuments, roads, houses, various building architecture and the different techniques of each of the city’s life stages.

Here is a little taste of what you see during the visit:

• The primitive nucleus of the Roman colony, the so-called “castrum” with square planes bounded by three-meter thick walls, in which the vertical roads (decumans) intersected with horizontal roads (hinges), forming a sort of cross-link or chessboard.
• An original stretch of the ancient Appian Way, which constitutes the central decumano, called maximus, with basalt stone blocks still perfectly preserved.
• The remains of the second republican town wall in square work and the republican forum delimited by triportico;
• Capitolium, the temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva), which architecturally resembles the temple of Jupiter Ottimo Massimo, built on the hill of the Capitol in Rome;
• The Capitolium can not be missed in a Roman colony, as the latter, as already mentioned, represents almost a “small Rome”;
• The Augustus Temple for the goddess Concordia, the temple of divine Caesar, the imperial hole (all built in the Augustan age);
• The Macellum or market of square type and central tholos, dating back to the architectural style of Adriano’s age;
• The Spas in which clearly distinguish the three environments of the calidarium and the trepidarium (where the suspension system and the tubes set in the walls are possible) and frigidarium is the outdoor swimming pool (natatio);
• The Theater built in the I century B.C. (late-republican age) in opus reticulatum and then redone in opus latericium under Adriano;
  Is perfectly intact with its classical staging, cavea and orchestra breakdown and accommodates 4000 spectators; In its back are visible the spaces that once housed the shops and tabernacles for the refreshment of the spectators. Under the theater is the Antiquarium, a small museum where statues and inscriptions are preserved throughout the archaeological area;
• Adrian Domus, including the domus of spas that has a private spa and valuable mosaics.

The visit is not over yet! Within the archaeological area you can admire another wonderful work that will suddenly catapult you from the Roman era to the Bourbon era in the 19th century. the “Real Ferdinando”, the first Iron bridge in Italy (with iron chains) built by King Ferdinand of Bourbon in 1832.
Not far from the ruins, outside the old walls, the place where the old river port of Minturnae stood at the mouth of the Garigliano was identified; Nearby remains of an ancient temple dating back to the 4th century. B.C. , The period when Minturno was a town of Aurunci, an Italic people. It was built in blocks of gray tuff rock and was devoted to one of the major divinities of the aurun people, the Great Goddess Marica (often mistakenly called nymphs) that protected the sailors and the offspring. At its temple, precisely on the left bank of the Garigliano, stood the “lucus Maricae”, the sacred forest to the goddess (today the pine grove of Baia Domizia), where sacrifices were made in his honor.

The Minturno trip takes more or less 5/6 hours including the round trip but it depends by departure point and can be performed in the morning and in the afternoon as the site is open from 9am to 7pm. The entrance ticket costs € 5 per person and allows you to visit the iron bridge as well.

The journey back or forth from Minturno will give you an unexpected emotion: a majestic architectural work, essential to the life of the old Roman Minturnae that will leave you breathless. What is this last marvel?
Do not hesitate, book your fantastic and unforgettable excursion to the low Lazio ruins with Naples Tour Service and you will discover it with your own eyes! You will not regret it!

Naples Tour Service will take you from your hotel or harbor or any other place on its comfortable minivan to discover the wonders of Minturno and its surroundings, organizing the day according to your wishes.