The ancient city of Lavinium, a sacred site with important sanctuaries from the time of the original Latin tribes, is believed to have been founded by Aeneas when he landed on the Latium coastline as told by Virgil in the Aeneid.
The site, thirty kilometres from Rome, between Pomezia and Torviaianica, was practically unknown until 1955, when, with authorisation from the Borghese family who own the land, Ferdinando Castagnoli from the Università di Roma “la Sapienza” began to systematically explore the area.
The excavations carried out for over fifty years have revealed very important discoveries around the town itself (built in the Middle Ages on the Lavinium Acropolis), relative to pre-urban and archaic phases which include the necropolis and the domestic area, forum buildings from the Roman era and a remarkable thermal spa.
However best known are the sacred sites such as the Heeron of Aeneas, a VII-IV century BC burial mound and the Sanctuary of the thirteen shrines, where majestic altars in tufa along with the newly discovered fourteenth in a space 50 meters long, perhaps used for the worship of the Penates or Aphrodite.
Also important is the immense amount of terracotta statues in the Eastern Shrine, dedicated to Minerva, where young women and children brought terracotta statues depicting them in the act of offering gifts to the goddess.
In fact, fragments of over a hundred depictions have been found in a special room in the sanctuary, some of which are now kept in the Archaeological Museum of Pratica di Mare.
Our visit will begin at this small but exceedingly important museum, just outside the Medieval town centre and opened in 2005.
Welcoming us is the huge statue of an armed Minerva, Tritonia Virgo, with a severe expression on her face.
We will also find many statues, ceramic offerings and quantities of grave goods in the necropolis dating from the X to VII centuries.
Take care not to miss the grave goods found in the Heroon of the mythical hero Aeneas with his sword, spears and sacrificial knife and the platters, roasting spits and andirons used in the ritual funeral banquet.
We will also see the exceptional doors carved in tufo from the central chamber of the Heroon added when the burial mound was reconstructed in the IV century BC.
