Capena (a comune of approximately 11,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Rome, 30km north of the GRA on Via Flaminia, the ancient Roman consular road to the Adriatic) occupies the specific position of an ancient Faliscan settlement that the Roman state absorbed into its territory in the 3rd century BC and that has been a functioning agricultural community without interruption since then. The Falisci (the Italic people of the Tiber valley north of Rome, between the Tiber and the Cimini hills, a linguistic and cultural group related to the Latins but distinct, speaking a dialect of Latin before their Romanization) had their primary city at Falerii Veteres (the modern Civita Castellana, 30km further north on Via Flaminia) and a series of secondary settlements including the site identified with ancient Capena at the Monte Sant'Angelo di Leprignano hill above the modern town.
Capena wine territory: the commune is at the southern edge of the Cesanese wine zone (the Cesanese di Affile and Cesanese del Piglio DOC, the native Lazio red grape Cesanese, which produces Italy's most interesting indigenous southern Lazio red wine in the two specific hill communes of Affile and Piglio, approximately 30km east) and has its own local wine production from the Tiber valley vineyards. The specific Capena agricultural character (olive groves, vineyards, orchards in the volcanic soil of the Tiber left bank) is the basis of the local economy that tourism has never displaced.
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Capena: What to Know
The Faliscan Heritage
The Faliscan archaeological heritage of the Capena area (the Monte Sant'Angelo di Leprignano hill site, not fully excavated, with surface finds documented by the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia in Rome which holds the principal Faliscan collection) is the specific ancient-history interest of the area. The Villa Giulia (in Rome, Via di Villa Giulia 9) has the best-documented Faliscan material in any single museum: the terracottas, the painted pottery, and the bronze objects from the Faliscan sanctuaries and necropolises that were excavated in the 19th century document a specific Italic culture that is neither fully Etruscan nor fully Latin but occupies the interesting border territory between the two.
Via Flaminia Context
Via Flaminia (the consular road from Rome to Rimini, built 220 BC, passing through Capena on its northward course through the Tiber valley) is one of the best-preserved ancient road alignments in Italy: the modern SS3 largely follows the ancient route, and several sections of the original Roman road surface are visible in the Capena area. Via Flaminia north of Rome (from Prima Porta to Narni, the first 100km of the ancient road) is an archaeological drive of the first quality: Roman bridges (the Ponte Milvio, the Ponte Felice at Borghetto), ancient road stations (Otricoli), and the specific landscape of the Tiber valley that the Roman army marched through on every northern campaign.
Q&A: Capena
What is the best reason to stop at Capena rather than continuing to Civita Castellana?
Capena is a stopping point rather than a destination in its own right, the best reason to stop is the specific agricultural landscape of the Tiber left bank between the GRA and Civita Castellana, and the local wine and olive oil buy at the cantina and frantoio of the area. The Capena agricultural cooperative (Cantina Sociale di Capena, one of the oldest in Lazio, established 1930) produces the local DOC wines at cooperative prices. If the itinerary allows only one stop before Civita Castellana: Civita Castellana is the more historically significant destination. Capena is for the visitor who specifically wants the agricultural-Lazio experience.
