The ancient history of Capena

Capena has origins in ancient history – traces of habitation go back to prehistoric times, doubtless because of the plentiful supply of caves for shelter, sources of water and rich animal life.

The Capenati were one of the Italic peoples that prospered in Lazio before the advent of Rome. The tribe’s culture had its own original aspects but external influences were also apparent. Its people spoke a totally original language allied to Etruscan, which was similar to Latin but with Sabine influences.

The lands of the ancient Capenate tribe were located along the right bank of the Tiber: including the present-day towns of Capena, Fiano, Morlupo, Castelnuovo and Riano.

Their vicinity to the Tiber was crucial to their historical development. This major trade route ran from eastern central Adriatic across the Piceno and Sabine hills to the Tyrrhenian Sea to allow a flourishing economic and cultural trade until the Bronze Age.

Some ancient sources suggest that another religious centre was also located on Monte Soratte on the border with the Falisco area, where Apollo Sorano was worshipped. 

From the end of the 7th century to the beginning of the 6th century BC, the Etruscan culture began to prevail over the Capenate culture more and more. This process culminated with the admission of the Capenate people into the confederation of Etruscan peoples.

In the fourth century BC, a legendary ten-year war was waged for the control of this part of the Tiber between the allied Veio, Capenati and Falisci tribes and Rome. The struggle ended in the defeat of the allies by Romein 395 BC and with the fall of Veio at the hand of Furio Camillo.

After the Roman conquest, the entire area was conscripted to the Stellatina tribe and a Federated Municipality was set up in 387 AD. During the Imperial period, part of the area was annexed into the Patrimonium Caesaris and the number of landed estates grew, revealed by the numerous large houses that grew up in the area. The best known of these is Villa dei Volusii.

The unstable imperial authority and inflation drove the nobility out of the city to their country estates. All the large villas of the late Imperial period now began to take on the appearance of what they would later become: a medieval manor with a castle, a central nucleus and a fortified village known as a castrum.

Little is known of the Republican period although we can be sure that Capena maintained its importance as a wealthy and flourishing federated municipality, and this is borne out by a number of finds from the Hellenistic period and the fame of the treasures of Lucus Feroniae, which attracted the attention of Hannibal, who raided the sanctuary in 211 BC.

During the Christian period, when the area was known as Collinense, the original Patrimonium Caesarìs became an estate of the Church of Rome and a bulwark against the invasion of the Lombards and Franks, who left historical and artistic traces of their passing.

The name of Collinense appears in a papal bull issued by Leo IV dating from 854. This lists the goods and chattels of the Monastero di S. Martino, which was home to the Benedictine monks for many years. Another mention of Collinense appears in a Instrumentum Rogatum of 962, under the papacy of John XII. Mention is made of an unknown woman named Agatha donating some chattels from the Collinense area to the Monastero di S. Martino.