This content was automatically translated. View the original text.
Forum Novum Archaeological Area in Torri in Sabina: The Roman Municipality That Became the Cathedral of the Sabines
Forum Novum was founded in the 2nd century BC as a pastoral market along one of the main traffic routes of Sabina, at the crossroads of two roads that linked the Via Flaminia and the Via Salaria. In the Caesarian age, it was organised as a municipium, and assigned to the Crustumina tribe. Pliny mentions it in his Naturalis Historia. Excavations conducted by the Soprintendenza, the University of Perugia and the British School at Rome from 1969 onwards brought to light the basilica, the forum, the baths, a wooden amphitheatre and an aqueduct built at the expense of the private citizen P. Faianus Plebeius.
The End of the City and the Cathedral
At the end of the 9th century the Saracens destroyed Forum Novum. Only one building survived: the episcopal church, built on the remains of a Roman structure. It became the Ecclesia Cathedralis Sabinorum — the cathedral of the whole of Sabina — and remained so until the 15th century, when the bishopric moved to Magliano Sabina. This designation can still be read on the entrance portal. The church, now known as Santa Maria in Vescovio (St Mary of Praise), houses 14th-century frescoes attributed to Pietro Cavallini's early workshop, and a Last Judgement on the counter-façade.
The Area Today
The ruins of the Roman municipium emerge on the plain next to the church, in countryside made up of olive groves and pastures. Sections of paved road, walls in opus reticulatum and arches of the aqueduct are visible. The area is in the municipality of Torri in Sabina, 7 km from Tarano.
