ARCH OF MALBORGHETTO

On the 19^th km of the Via Flaminia

Arch with four entrances on a rectangular plan 15 x 12 m (49 x 39 feet), 17.50 m (57 feet) high, covered with a groin vault

It was transformed into a farmhouse after the marble was stripped down and the arches were closed with walls

The name comes from a village destroyed and infamous haunt of bandits near the church of St. Nicholas built inside the arch (maybe in the twelfth century) and then destroyed in 1485 by the troops of the Orsini family

It is likely that the arch would correspond to the praetorium (headquarter) of the camp of Constantine (306/337) the night before the battle against Maxentius on the year 312

According to the ancient writer Lactantius, tutor of the son of Constantine Crispo, in his book De persecutorum of the year 314, and also according to Eusebius, it was here that Constantine had the vision of the Crismón: two large overlapping letters, X and P, even if, according to Lactantius, it was a Latin cross with a P on top

The two letters correspond, respectively, to the Greek letter χ (chi), and ρ (rho). These two letters are the initials of the word Χριστός (Khristos), the name of Jesus, which in Greek means "anointed" and it is the translation of the Hebrew word "Messiah"

Antiquarium

It was opened on the year 2000 with materials from various archaeological sites along the Via Flaminia

Etruscan remains from Volusia and Prima Porta, sculptures and architectural elements of the tombs of Tor di Quinto and Grottarossa, Roman pottery from the kilns at La Celsa

On the first floor pottery and objects of everyday life from the Middle Ages through the eighteenth century