Lanuvio (a town of approximately 13,000 inhabitants in the Alban Hills, Metropolitan City of Rome. 30km southeast of Rome on Via Appia Nuova, at 312m altitude on the southwestern slopes of the Colli Albani volcanic complex) is the Castelli Romani town whose ancient pedigree (ancient Lanuvium was one of the thirty Latin cities of the Latin League and the site of the most important sanctuary of Juno Sospita. Juno the Protectress, the specific Roman state goddess of protection whose feathered headdress, goatskin cloak, and javelin are the iconographic signature distinguishing her from the standard Juno Regina type) has been largely forgotten in favor of the more famous Castelli towns of Frascati, Castel Gandolfo, and Ariccia. The sanctuary of Juno Sospita (the ancient sanctuary whose precise location is debated among the olive groves and construction of modern Lanuvio, the most likely candidate is the area of the modern Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore, built on the ancient sanctuary platform) was one of the four federal sanctuaries of the Latin League: Roman consuls were required to make annual sacrifices at Lanuvium, and the goddess's specific oracle (the snake oracle, documented by Propertius, a snake living in the goddess's sacred cave that accepted or rejected offerings from young women, the acceptance indicating a good harvest year) made Lanuvio a pilgrimage destination across the Roman world.
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Lanuvio: Wine and Town
The Lanuvio DOC Wine
The Lanuvio DOC (established 2011, one of the newer Castelli Romani wine denominations, covering white wines from Malvasia Bianca di Candia, Malvasia del Lazio, and Trebbiano Toscano grapes grown in the Lanuvio municipal territory) is essentially unknown outside the immediate area. The Lanuvio white wine (produced at approximately 15,000 hl per year, a tiny production even by DOC standards) has the specific Castelli Romani white wine character: the volcanic soil gives a mineral note that the Malvasia Bianca provides aromatic lift and the Trebbiano the acidity backbone. Buy directly at the Cantina Sociale di Lanuvio (one of the oldest cooperatives in the Castelli Romani zone, established 1920, the winery that produces the majority of Lanuvio DOC from the cooperative members' vineyards).
The Historic Center
The Lanuvio historic center (the medieval and early modern town on the hill, with the Palazzo Sforza-Cesarini at the summit, the 16th-century noble residence of the family that held Lanuvio as their Castelli estate, and the churches of San Giovanni and Santa Maria Maggiore on the ancient sanctuary platform) is the specific historic architecture of a secondary Castelli Romani town that the international tourist circuit hasn't reached. The Lanuvio visit has the specific quality of an authentic functioning Italian comune without tourist infrastructure: the local bar, the alimentari (small grocery shop), the passeggiata (traditional evening stroll) on Corso Roma on weekday evenings, the weekly market on Friday mornings.
Q&A: Lanuvio
What makes Lanuvio different from other Castelli Romani towns?
The Juno Sospita connection (the specifically Republican-era Roman state cult that makes Lanuvium one of the historically significant Latin cities) and the relative absence of tourists (Frascati, Castel Gandolfo, and Ariccia absorb the Castelli Romani tourist flow. Lanuvio continues as a functioning residential town). The wine buy (the Lanuvio DOC at cooperative prices. €4-6 per bottle direct) and the specific Castelli Romani volcanic landscape character (the olive groves, the vineyards, the tufo stone walls of the ancient terracing visible in the hillsides around the town) make Lanuvio the most authentically Castelli experience within the circuit.
Internal Links
- Castelli Romani: Ariccia 10km da Lanuvio
- Vini dei Castelli Romani: Il Circuito delle Cantine
- Castelli Romani Autentici: Oltre Frascati
- Castelli Romani in Autunno: Vendemmia e Sagre
- Cucina dei Castelli: Vino, Porchetta e Funghi
- Fotografare i Colli Albani: Paesaggio Vulcanico
- Lanuvium Antica: La Lega Latina e Giunone
