Lorium

About

Lorium was an ancient village of ancient Etruria, Italy, on the Via Aurelia, 19 km west of Rome, near today's Castel di Guido. The place was mentioned in the Tabula Peutingeriana as the first statio or post station at the 12th mile from Rome. Seven kilometres farther west was the post-station of Baebiana, where inscriptions show that some sailors of the fleet were stationed, probably a detachment from Centumcellae along this road.

300 Roman tombs have been found in the area along the old via Aurelia. An imperial villa in the locality was built by Antoninus Pius, probably on a family estate, who was educated here and died here. It was also a favourite haunt of Pius' adopted son and successor as emperor, Marcus Aurelius who complained about the uneven paving stones of the Via Aurelia which caused "his horse to stumble and slip".

Statues of imperial figures found during excavations of 1824, including a Veiled Juno, a Livia in the form of Pietà and a Domitia in the dress of Diana, preserved in the Vatican Clementine Museum, confirm that the imperial palace was located between Castel di Guido and the Bottaccia estate. On the nearby hills are numerous traces of residential Roman villas including...