Activities

Castrum Novum is an ancient Roman fortified centre founded in 264 BC. when Rome was preparing more and more to become a maritime power and to clash with Carthage. It is located in the territory of Santa Marinella on the coast north of Rome.

For this reason, before the First Punic War, it set up a series of ports and fortresses to protect them in order to counteract any Punic landings.

The centre was mentioned by Julius Caesar as the seat of the Colonia Iulia Castronovana and was to be all surrounded by walls. Its extension of about twelve hectares made it one of the largest Roman Castrums

In the castrum there is a system of fish ponds with imposing dimensions of 48 meters by 30 meters which is one of the largest in the Mediterranean.

Next to this piscicultural activity, the remains of a Roman house were found where there was probably a "taberna" and a post station for travelers to rest along the Via Aurelia.

Castrum Novum is one of the largest fortified centres of the Republican era which then became an important urban centre in the Imperial era. Recent excavations are bringing to light a theatre, a curia, houses, a small temple dedicated to Apollo, an aqueduct, other urban structures for the entertainment of the population, plus sewers.

Via Aurelia was an important Roman road that connected Rome with Cerveteri and Pyrgi, passing along the Tyrrhenian coast.

The road was then extended to Pisa and then to Marseille, France by the emperor Augustus who called it the Via Julia Augusta.

The first stretch up to Cerveteri dates back to the third century BC and was built by the censor Aurelio Cotta.

There are no traces of the ancient route but there are still traces of the passage of this important communication route as a memorial stone at km 59,700 engraved with a text that recalls how the reconstruction of a nearby bridge called 'Ponte di Apollo' (with three arches but buried today) was made by the emperor Septimius Severus.

Another sign of the passage of the ancient Via Aurelia is at km 60.4 where there are the remains of a Roman bridge (the Ponte di Largo Imperio) of which only one sandstone arch remains, while at km 60.7 you can see the remains of an arch of the Via Roma bridge (today in a private garden).

Finally, at km 62.3 you can see the Ponte delle Vignacce restored in 1910.

In the stretch of sea in front of Punta della Vipera in Santa Marinella you can recognize the remains of a system of tanks that made up a large fishpond, that is an area where fish were bred.

The pools are all inter-communicating and the complex has the dimensions of about 48 meters by 30 meters and dates back to the first century BC. With its imposing size, this is considered the largest such complex in the Mediterranean along with that of Torre Astura near Nettuno.

Probably nearby there was an imperial era villa testified by some traces of pavement, small walls and remains of marble decorations.

At Punta Vipera there was also an ancient Etruscan sanctuary built in 530 BC. which was then in operation throughout the Roman period and dedicated to the goddess Minerva, protector of births. I

n fact, finds have been unearthed that refer to various historical episodes such as the invasion of Dionysius from Syracuse in 384 BC. and the Roman settlement of Castrum Novum.

In the imperial period, then, a Roman villa was built on the ruins of the temple, or an agricultural centre that supplied all the neighbouring cities.

The centre was part of the Castrum Novum settlement and was probably also part of a subsequent post station along the Via Aurelia.

The baptistry of Santa Lucia is a small frescoed chapel, with a baptismal font in the centre, located in the castle of Santa Severa in Santa Marinella.

It was built around the fourteenth century by the Santo Spirito Hospital in honour of Santa Severa and Santa Lucia.

The frescoes cover all the walls and represent a Madonna and Child surrounded by saints and an annunciation in the area of ​​the apse.

On the side wall there is a large ship on the sea with the symbols of the Hospital of Santo Spirito which probably represents a miraculous catch.

All the frescoes were made by painters from the school of Antoniazzo Romano.

In the church you can also see graffiti from the 15th and 16th centuries representing ships and which may have been made by sailors.
 

This church of Santa Maria Assunta in Santa Marinella is located inside the village of the Castle of Santa Severa and its origins date back to 1595.

It was built by the commander Fivizzani whose coat of arms can be found on the facade.

The church looks to have  a unique shape and the altar area is delimited by two large columns and a small frescoed barrel vault.

On the marble altar there is a fresco with a Madonna between Saints Teresa and Marina who are the inspirers of the two villages of Santa Marinella with the Odescalchi castle and Santa Severa with its castle.

Initially the whole church was frescoed with scenes from the life of Santa Severa, the Annunciation and the Nativity.

These were removed in 1772 when it was preferred to decorate with stucco and plaster.

Some of them have recently been uncovered and highlighted.

The church of Santa Marina (and San Leonardo) is the oldest in the town and initially was the church around which the centre of Santa Marinella was born.

Its cult had been brought around the tenth century by Basilian monks who came from the Middle East and who had settled in the area of ​​the Villa of Ulpiano.

Santa Marina was originally from Lebanon and the relic of her body was brought to Constantinople from where the Venetians stole it and brought it to the church of Santa Maria Formosa in Venice where it is still located.

This construction dates back to the end of the seventeenth century and is characterized by a very simple facade with a central door and two windows in correspondence to the side aisles.

The church is accessed via a staircase that leads to a terrace in front of the entrance.

The decorative elements are a decoration of the openings, a central round opening and pilasters along the facade and the central end section which recalls an ancient Greek temple.

At the entrance door there is a coat of arms of the Santo Spirito Hospital which ruled Santa Marinella for many years.

Inside you can see the 'bees' symbol of the Barberini family who ruled this area for a period and who renovated the church.

The interior is majestic but simple and the overlapping styles are noticeable, in fact the two lateral naves were added at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Among the elements of internal decoration, there is a baptismal font made from a Roman piece and a marble altarpiece depicting a nativity.

In two side chapels there are paintings of San Giuseppe, the patron saint of Santa Marinella, and of Christ.

For all geology enthusiasts, the area where the towns of San Donaci, Cellino San Marco, Squinzano and Trepuzzi are located is a great ‘polje’ or karst depression and is a perfect example of the karst in this part of Puglia.

Polje is a term that comes from the other side of the Adriatic and means "karst dolina", i.e. a large plain bounded by a rocky edge. A water catchment rich in water that makes all the land very fertile.

For the fans you can recognize the walls that surround the polje.