The ancient city of Tusculum stood on a plateau, circa 30 km from Rome, whence it had a strategic view over the valley ahead. In ancient times the Via Latina passed through the valley, forming the main communication route between Latium and Campania before the construction of the Via Appia.

The city, which played a fundamental role within the Latin League, was certainly of great importance in the archaic period, as attested not only by the ancient sources but also by the archaeological evidence. In 381 B.C. it was declared a municipium. From that moment onwards Tusculum came within the Roman sphere and its families produced many of the urbs’ eminent individuals, even of consular rank, amongst which the Mamilii, the Furii and the Quintii can be cited.
As the city developed and expanded the entire suburban area came to be occupied by the luxurious villas of the Roman emperors and members of the senatorial and equestrian classes.

Tusculum reached its apogee between the end of the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. Subsequently, there was a slow decline until the 3rd-4th century A.D. a period for which there is very little evidence. The area regained its importance in the medieval period when the Counts of Tusculo appeared on the scene, a house of such importance and influence as to arouse the resentment of Rome and the Papacy which in 1191 decided that Tusculo should be destroyed.

The first investigation of the city dates to the 19th century, but the greatest push towards the discovery of Tusculum and its monumental centre came with the 1994 excavations by the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueologìa, undertaken in the forum-theatre and on the suburban promontory immediately south of the monumental centre.

During these twelve years the research project has led not only to the chronological and architectural definition of already known structures like the theatre, the forum or the “archaic fountain”, but also to the discovery of other constructions of which nothing was known, such as the sacellae situated on the western side of the forum, a large podium of archaic date upon which a cult structure probably stood and the forum basilica. As regards the medieval period the work in recent years has led to a more precise definition of the nature of the occupation of the ancient site in the period between the 10th and 12th centuries and the discovery, outside the city, of a church with three naves built upon the remains of a Republican villa. (MiBAC)