Ocriculum

This new city was founded after the Romans destroyed the early settlement on the site of modern Otricoli in the 1st century BC.  A number of wealthy Romans had villas at Otriculum.  Its inhabitants traded with Rome using Via Flaminia and also using the Tiber, which was accessed from the Porto dell’ Olio, traces of which survive. 

The city became a diocese in the 5th century, and two important cult sites from the subsequent period (see below) survive.  It was abandoned in the 7th century, perhaps  because it could not be defended from the Lombards or perhaps because of the flooding of the Tiber.  It was then largely forgotten until Pope Pius VI organised its excavation in 1776-84.  

Roman Remains

Via Flaminia (ca. 220 BC)

A stretch of Via Flaminia some 6 meters wide and 25 meters long was excavated in 1992-4 just outside Ocriculum.  It is built with large leucite paving stones from quarries at nearby Borghetto.  The road shows signs of wear from carts and has been repaired with white limestone paving materials.

Amphitheatre [date ??]

This structure on the edge of the city was partly cut into the surrounding rock.  Its external walls have been destroyed, but the surviving parts of the structure include:

• the vaulted intermediate gallery of the cavea;

• the remains of the two main entrance survive;

• floor of the arena; and

• part of the podium. 

Baths (1st or 2nd century AD)

The baths, which were fed by the underground stream of San Vittore, were restored and enlarged in 341 and again in the late 4th or the 5th century AD.  They stand on a terrace that was built as part of a project that diverted the waters of the San Vittore stream into an underground canal.  The "octagonal room" is still clearly visible: its polychrome mosaic is now in the Museo Vaticano, Rome.

Tomb [date ??]

This drum-type funerary monument is of a type that was in use in the late 1st century BC and the 1st century AD.

Fountain and Nymphaeum (late 1st century BC)

The public fountain next to the tomb linked and the adjacent nymphaeum were fed by the Rio San Vittore.

The nymphaeum has two rectangular niches at the sides of an apse and two more with round arches. Inside it is divided by two stone banisters, which show signs of wear from the ropes used for supplying water.

Substructure (1st century BC)

This imposing structure probably supported a public building, possibly a temple.  It consists of twelve vaulted rooms on two floors; the upper floor has walls in opus reticulatum that are still covered with plaster in some places.

Theatre [date ??]

Most of the surviving structure is in opus reticolatum and was originally faced in marble.  The entrance is built of blocks of tufa. 

Early Christian Cult Sites

San Fulgenzio

[This might have been the site of a shrine to the Roman goddess Valentia.  Tertullian referred to her in his "Apologeticus" (ca. 200 AD) as a goddess revered in Ocriculum, and an inscription (CIL XI 4082) found nearby [now in the church ??] reads "ex visu deae Valentiae".  The etymology of her name suggests that she was a goddess of health or well-being.]

The first church on this site housed the relics of St Fulgentius, the 6th century Bishop of Ocriculum, together with an identifying inscription (late 6th or 7th century).  The relics and the inscription were translated to Santa Maria Assunta in 1316.

A venerated image known as the Madonna del Buonconsiglio was transferred to this church from nearby San Vittore in 1756. 

San Vittore (18th century)

An inscription (late 6th century) found here records that St Fulgentius discovered the relics of St Victor and erected an altar over his grave.  The first church of San Vittore must have been built at that time.  A Benedictine monastery was established here at least from the 13th century.  The relics of St Victor and the inscription were translated to Santa Maria Assunta in 1351.

The relics of a martyr, St Medicus and an identifying inscription (10th or 11th century) found in 1611, apparently in a funeral chamber under the apse.  The relics and the inscription were translated to the crypt of Santa Maria Assunta in 1613.

Art from Otriculum 

Jupiter of Otriculum

This head from a monumental statue of Jupiter can be seen in the Museo Vaticano, Rome.

Roman Remains (1st century BC - 2nd century AD)

There is an exhibition of finds from Ocriculum in the Museo Antiquarium Casale San Fulgenzio, which recently opened in a building adapted from the cistern of a Roman villa at Ocriculum.

Read more:

This page by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell' Umbria gives more details of the Roman monuments at Ocriculum.