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The Polygonal Walls of Sezze: the Ancient Roman Frontier in Volscian Territory
The polygonal walls of Sezze are among the most impressive examples of Roman defensive architecture in the Lepini Mountains. They date to the 4th century BC, when ancient Setia — a Latin colony founded in 382 BC — served as a strategic outpost deep in Volscian territory, together with Cora and Norba. It was a wedge driven into enemy domains, a few miles from the stronghold of Priverno.
Limestone Blocks and Building Technique
The outer circuit runs along the perimeter of the hill, with the best-preserved stretches on the south-western side. The blocks are made from local limestone, and worked according to the third polygonal manner — the same used at Norba and Cori — with average dimensions of 80 by 100 centimetres. Stretches showing the first and second manner are also recognisable, as are later sections in opus incertum, evidence that the walls were reinforced over the centuries. A second inner circuit, today visible only in fragments, protected the highest nucleus of the settlement.
From Latin Colony to Municipality
Setia remained a Latin colony right until the Social War of 90 BC, when it became a Roman municipium. The walls tell us something about that long history of the frontier: built to defend, they still define the shape of the historic centre today. To walk along the preserved stretches is to walk on the boundary between two worlds — the Roman and the Volscian — that faced each other here for generations.
