Artena

:"For the genus of noctuid moths, see "Artena (moth).Infobox CityIT
official_name = Comune di Artena
img_coa = Artena-Stemma.png img_coa_small =
region = RegioneIT|sigla=LAZ
province = Rome (RM)
mayor = Maria Luisa Pecorari
mayor_party =
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m = 420
area_footnotes =
area_total_km2 = 54
population_footnotes =
population_as_of = 2007
population_total = 13056
pop_density_footnotes =
population_density_km2 = 231.15
coordinates = coord|41|44|0|N|12|55|0|E|region:IT_type:city(13056)
gentilic = UCFIRST:Artenesi
telephone = 06
postalcode = 00031
frazioni =
saint = Mary Magdalene
day = 22 July
mapx = #expr:41 + 44 / 60.0
mapy = #expr:12 + 55 / 60.0
locator_position =
native_name = Artena
name = Artena

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website = http://www.artena.comnet.roma.it

Artena is a village of Italy, in the province of Rome, situated at the N.N.W. extremity of the Monti Lepini, in the upper valley of the Sacco River; it is c. 40 km S.E. by rail, and c. 30 km direct from Rome.

History

The name of the original village of the Volsci is uncertain; "Ecetra "or "Fortinum" are possible suggestions.

In the Middle Ages it was a fief of various Roman baronal families, such as the Colonna, the Orsini and the Borghese.

The modern village was called Monte Fortino until 1873. It owes its present name to an unproven identification of the site with the ancient Volscian Artena, destroyed in 404 BC. Another Artena, which belonged to the district of Caere, and lay between it and Veii, was destroyed in the period of the kings, and its site is unknown.

Main sights

On the mountain (600 km) above the village are the fine remains of the fortifications of a city built in a very primitive style, in cyclopean blocks of local limestone. Within the walls are traces of buildings, and a massive terrace which supported some edifice of importance.

Other sights include the "Palazzo Borghese" (17th century), and the churches of Santa Maria delle Letizie, Santa Croce, Santo Stefano Protomartire and San Francesco.

Notes and references

*T. Ashby and G. J. Pfeiffer in Supplementary Papers of the American School in Rome, i. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Artena/La_Civita/Pfeiffer_and_Ashby_1905*.html (transcribed at LacusCurtius)]