Area archeologica di Gabii
The archaeological site of the ancient city of Gabii is located about 20 km from Rome, at the twelfth mile of the Via Prenestina old, originally named Gabina, on the southern edge of the crater of Castiglione, an eccentric body of the complex of the Alban Hills occupied until the late nineteenth century, when it was drained by a volcanic lake known as "lacus Buranus or Sanctae Praxedis" or as a lake of Castiglione.
The old city of Gabii fits in the scenario of the great centers of Lazio at the time of the birth of Rome and is part, together with Tibur and Praeneste, between the cities who controlled the lower valley of 'Aniene and access to the valley of the Sacco and Liri and as such constituted a political and cultural epicenter of fundamental importance in Latium vetus.
In such a context the remains of the 'old city to assume for themselves an' importance comes from the sacredness of these places closely associated with the Latin civilization, in which you place the birth of Rome itself.
Gabii is also one of the most significant and important archaeological sites in the territory of the Municipality of Rome and a large sector of this district, which includes part of the old city center and some of his most direct appliances-approximately 70 acres has been acquired State property and assigns the use of the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome in order to achieve a sub-urban archaeological park.
The site of Gabii to its characteristics is now a research context extraordinary. The excavations carried out in the past, it can be seen, below the ground in the country, are still largely preserved the main structures and buildings of the ancient city. In fact, after the abandonment of the site, the mid-eleventh century, the area used for agriculture--was no longer the subject of construction operations and processing in other areas that have irretrievably erased the traces of past acquaintances. Therefore, the design of a program of targeted investigations may allow you to gain new information on the planning history of the Roman period with repercussions on the safe knowledge of the events of settlement of Rome itself (the urban history of Gabii, at least until the age average Republican seems to follow that dell'urbs).
