Jupiter's Temple - Rocca di Papa
You could also like...
Nearby
The Mons Albanus (currently known as Monte Cavo) is the highest of the Alban hills and was part of the territory inhabited by the Latins, who held this peak to be sacred.
Ever since the remotest times a temple to Iuppiter Latialis (Jupiter) has stood on this summit: a federal sanctuary of great importance, many different communities would meet and assemble here, seeing as it did not belong to any one city in particular.
Although the importance of federal sanctuaries declined after the Romans destroyed Alba Longa, the most important city of the Latin League, in the 7th C. AD., the Mount Albano temple, which was rebuilt towards the end of the 6th C. by Tarquinius Superbus, remained a religious centre of considerable importance.
The temple could be reached along the via Albana (now known as the Sacred Way), which began from the Appian Way near Ariccia, followed the edge of the crater above lake Albano and climbed up the mountain as far as the sanctuary.
Unfortunately very little of Jupiter’s temple stands today: the few cracked blocks of tufa rock that emerged from the excavations of 1929 did however bring to light the Sacred Way, a long stretch of which has reached us in an excellent state of conservation.
The Province’s event
Things to see
The video story
Celebration of the week
The product of the month
