LANUVIO

Altitude 324 m (1,060 feet). 10,540 inhabitants

Built on a ridge of basaltic lava, with a modern neighborhood and a medieval one

Originally it was the ancient Latin city of Lanuvium founded according to legend by the Greek hero Diomedes

Around the eleventh century it was named Civita Lavinia

The present name dates back only to 1914

Almost completely destroyed by bombs during World War Two

Here were born the emperors Antoninus Pius (138/161) and Commodus (180/192)

Tempio di Giunone Sospita

Temple of Juno Sospita

Italic temple of 24 x 20 m (78 x 65 feet)

It was a cosmic cult linked to agriculture, which was introduced after the year 338 BC

Sospita means saviour

It was discovered in 1914

Collegiata o Chiesa dell’Assunta

Collegiate Church of Church of the Assumption

Renovated in 1675 and restored after the last war

Bell tower in a style inspired by Borromini built in 1680 by Tommaso Mattei (1652/1726), a pupil of Carlo Fontana

"The simple formal elegance of the architecture of the bell tower, the taste for the delicate inflections of plasticity sought in the design of moldings, the graphical and pictorial gimmicks on the surface denote Mattei as an architect already mature and aware of his expressive means and place his works among the ones featuring a calm and elegant decorative style, on the horizon of the eighteenth century very close in time" (Dimitri Ticconi - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Crucifix of the fifteenth century

"Calvary" 1675 by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)