Terrazzamento Occidentale del Santuario

Since 2012 excavations have been carried out in the Sanctuary of Juno Sospita in Lanuvio, on the hill of S. Lorenzo, in the course of which seven rooms were found, with perimeter walls in opus incertum and opus reticulatum, already excavated by Lord Savile Lumley (1892-1894), but then covered over by rubble from the Second World War. There is also a pylon, which was always visible, built in opus quadratum, which probably had a defensive purpose. The whole area was built after the original surface had been levelled and is crossed by underground tunnels. Luca Attenni.

Terrazzamento Orientale del Santuario

The area at East of the Juno Sospita Sanctuary in Lanuvio was known in the local cartographic documents as Frediani Dionigi olive grove, because it was property of this family up to 1939. The area has been indagated with some excavation campaigns carried out between September 2006 an September 2011 and it has never been excavated before.

Excavation campaigns brought to light a massive supporting wall in opus incertum, which runs straight to North for about 48 meters, and a cement terrace 6,30 meters wide and about 60 meters long. The eastern terrace of the Juno Sospita Sanctuary gives today a recognizable image of its main phases, thanks to the partial excavation work.

A big building stage, in the late Republican Age, consists in the supporting wall in opus incertum, where there is an opening. In this phase were probably built the large plane area , but no floors or foundation planes look to be contemporary to the wall. This opus incertum wall was then covered by a second wall in opus reticulatum (maybe belonging to the Augustan Age), which runs parallel to the first one, at a distance of 60/70 cm.

Between the two walls there is a pavement in cocciopesto, contemporary to the wall in opus reticulatum, which identify the narrow corridor as a channel to collect rain water, with a cover made by small arches. In a second stage, not later than the first Imperial Age, in the opus reticulatum wall were made three openings, that gave access to the upper terrace. Two of them have been closed in ancient times, at the time of an other big building phase of the area, during the II century A.D. A series of not well identified spaces in the plane area belong to this last phase.