Aricia

Aricia (mod. Ariccia), an ancient city of Latium, on the Via Appia, 16 m. S.E. of Rome. The old town, or at any rate its acropolis, now occupied by the modern town, lay high (1350 ft. above sea-level) above the circular Valle Aricciana, which is probably an extinct volcanic crater; some remains of its fortifications, consisting of a mound of earth supported on each side by a wall of rectangular blocks of peperino stone, have been discovered (D. Marchetti, in Notizie degli scavi, 1892, 52). The lower town was situated on the north edge of the valley, close to the Via Appia, which descended into the valley from the modern Albano, and re-ascended partly upon very fine substructions of opus quadratum, some 200 yds. in length, to the modern Genzano. Remains of the walls of the lower town, of the cella of a temple built of blocks of peperino, and also of later buildings in brickwork and opus reticulatum, connected with the post-station (Aricia being the first important station out of Rome, cf. Horace, Sat. i. 5. 1, Egressum magna me excepit Aricia Roma hospitio modico) on the highroad, may still be seen (cf. T. Ashby in Mélanges de l’école française de Rome, 1903, 399). Aricia was one of the oldest cities of Latium, and appears as a serious opponent of Rome at the end of the period of the kings and beginning of the republic. In 338 B.C. it was conquered by C. Maenius and became a civitas sine suffragio, but was soon given full rights. Even in the imperial period its chief magistrate was styled dictator, and its council senatus, and it preserved its own calendar of festivals. Its vegetables and wine were famous, and the district is still fertile.