Atina (a town of approximately 3,800 inhabitants in the Comino valley, Frosinone province, in the southern Lazio Apennines, the Val di Comino, between the Mainarde mountains and the Simbruini range, 140km southeast of Rome) is one of those southern Lazio towns whose ancient pedigree (Atina appears in Virgil's Aeneid as a pre-Roman Latin city, the "Cominium Cerite" mentioned in Livy's accounts of the Samnite Wars of the 4th century BC, the military conflicts between Rome and the Samnite mountain tribes of the southern Apennines that defined the Roman expansion into the south) has left specific physical traces that the visitor who arrives prepared can read directly in the landscape. The pre-Roman polygonal walls (the "opus polygonale" or "Pelasgian" masonry, massive limestone blocks fitted without mortar in the specific irregular polygon style that the pre-Roman hill cultures of Lazio developed for their fortifications) survive in sections on the western edge of the Atina historic center: blocks of 2-3 tons, fitted without mortar at the beginning of the Italian Iron Age, still providing the foundation for the medieval and modern buildings above them.
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Atina: Ancient Walls and Local Wine
The Polygonal Walls
The Atina polygonal walls (visible in the western sector of the old town, particularly along the approach road from the valley floor) are among the finest examples of opus polygonale in Lazio, a masonry technique of pre-Roman origin that appears at several sites in the Lazio and Campania mountain zone (Arpino, Alatri, Ferentino, Norba, Cori, all have sections of this pre-Roman megalithic wall construction). The Atina walls predate the Roman period by centuries. The specific quality of the masonry (the fitting of the irregular blocks without mortar to a structural precision that the walls have maintained for 2,500+ years) is a proof of the specific technical capacity of the pre-Roman Italic cultures that Rome eventually absorbed.
Atina DOC White Wine
The Atina DOC (one of the most obscure Italian wine denominations, produced from Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah and others for the red. Semillon for the white, in a zone that has less in common with the traditional central Italian grape varieties than with the international varieties introduced by modern viticulture) is produced by a handful of producers in the Comino valley. The specific curiosity: Atina DOC Cabernet is the only Lazio DOC red based primarily on Cabernet Franc, an anomaly in the regional wine landscape that reflects the specific viticultural experimentation of one or two producers who have pushed for DOC recognition for varieties that have succeeded on these mountain soils.
Q&A: Atina
How do I reach Atina?
By car from Rome: 140km southeast via the A1 (exit Cassino) then SS630 north through the Comino valley. Total time approximately 1.5-2 hours. By public transport: train to Cassino then COTRAL bus to Atina (approximately 1 hour from Cassino, 1-2 buses per day). Atina is best combined with the nearby Montecassino abbey (30km south, the Benedictine abbey and WWII battlefield that is one of the most historically significant sites in Italy) and the Mainarde mountains (the mountain range on the border between Lazio and Molise, the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise territory).
Internal Links
- Val di Comino: Sora e le Cascate di Isola del Liri
- Mura Poligonali Lazio: Il Confronto con Cori
- Ciociaria Montuosa: Il Profondo Sud del Lazio
- Linea Gustav: Montecassino vicino ad Atina
- Comino in Autunno: Foliage e Tranquillità
- Atina DOC: Il Vino delle Mura Poligonali
- Pre-Romano Lazio: Le Città Prima di Roma
