The foundation of colonies usually occurred with the Roman conquest of territory, and brought about a new landscape dominated by towns. A view of the distribution of Roman towns in the mid-Adriatic area corresponding to the Picenum and the ager Gallicus would seem to confirm this pattern. However, this situation represents the outcome of a long process that was only completed by the end of the Republican period. In the aftermath of conquest, the foundation of a town was however only one of the possible solutions, as there were other alternatives which responded to the need to organise the population around central places, such as sanctuaries.
The archaeological research of the University of Bologna and the British School at Rome, in agreement with the SABAP of Southern Marche, at the Sanctuary of Jupiter near Monte Rinaldo (Fermo) now offers the possibility of analysing this phenomenon, already known in other areas of the peninsula, as well as elsewhere in ancient Picenum.
The new excavations and the study of the architectural decorations have made it possible to reconstruct the architectural development of a temple that dominated a porticoed square open towards the Aso valley. The sanctuary, built in two phases in the 2nd century B.C., was later abandoned and replaced by a rural settlement in the Augustan period that probably gravitated to the Roman municipalities of Cupra and Novana.
La Fondazione di colonie accompagna di solito la conquista romana del territorio e genera un paesaggio nuovo dominato dalle città. Uno sguardo alla distribuzione delle numerose città romane nell’area medio-adriatica corrispondente al Piceno e all’ager Gallicus sembrerebbe confermare questa tesi. Tuttavia, questa situazione rappresenta l’esito di un lungo percorso che giunge a compimento solo alla fine dell’età repubblicana (I a.C.). All’indomani della conquista la città è solo una delle soluzioni possibili, mentre esistono altre alternative, che rispondono all’esigenza di organizzare il popolamento attorno ad alcuni luoghi centrali, come I santuari. Le ricerche archeologiche dell’Università di Bologna e della BSR in accordo con la SABAP delle Marche meridionali nell Santuario di Giove presso Monte Rinaldo (Fermo) offrono ora la possibilità di analizzare questo fenomeno, già noto in altre aree della penisola, anche nell’antico Piceno. Gli scavi recenti e lo studio della decorazione architettonica permettono di ricostruire lo sviluppo architettonico di un tempio che dominava una piazza porticata aperta verso la valle dell’Aso. Il Santuario, costruito in due fasi nel II secolo a.C., venne abbandonato e sostituito da un insediamento rustico in età triumvirale-augustea che probabilmente gravitava sui municipi romani di Cupra e Novana.
Enrico Giorni is a Professor of Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bologna and a member of the Academic Board of the PhD in Archaeology at the ‘Sapienza’ University of Rome. He is the editor of the e-journal Groma and serves as the scientific director of TolomeoLab (https://site.unibo.it/tolomeolab/it).
Giorni is also the president of the Centre for Adriatic Archaeology (https://www.arcadria.eu/) and a member of the Board of the Butrint Management Foundation (https://bmf.al/en/) and the Italian University Council for Ancient Topography (http://www.topografiaantica.it/). He directs multiple research projects both in Italy (including Pompeii, Agrigento, Paestum, Suasa, and Falerone) and abroad (in Albania, Croatia, and Egypt). His ongoing research includes the Albanian and Italian Project at Butrint, supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (https://site.unibo.it/butrint/en), as well as a joint research project with the British School at Rome focused on the ancient cities and landscapes of the middle Adriatic and excavations at Monte Rinaldo.
