The Castra Albana was an ancient Roman legionary fortress of the Legio II Parthica founded by the Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211) on the site of the present Albano Laziale.
It was the only permanent legionary fortress in Italy and had the role of protecting the emperor, while all other legions were distributed through the provinces for defence of the empire. It was located near to the imperial villa at the present Castel Gandolfo, and only about 20 km from Rome.
Today the remains of building both inside the castra and in the neighbouring civilian settlement, such as the so-called Baths of Caracalla and the Amphitheatre, can still be seen.
History
The origin of the name
The fortress of Legio II Parthica was named Albana after the area which included Lacus Albanus, Mons Albanus, aqua Albana (perhaps an aqueduct on the south side of the lake), the rivus Albanus (probably the modern marana delle Pietrare near Marino) and "Albani Longani Bovillenses", the official name of the inhabitants of the municipium of Bovillae (located on the Appian Way near the modern village of Frattocchie),. The adjective Albanus was also used as a poetic synonym for Romanus.
The legio II Parthica came to be known as legio Albana and its legionaries as Albani, even though the whole legion did not remain at the Castra Albana but had other encampments in Mesopotamia.
Republican Era to Domitian
The Appian Way was built in 312 BC to connect Rome with Capua and passed through the Alban Hills. in Campania. The ease of direct communication with Rome led to many suburban villas of Roman nobles being built in the area, including the villas of Publius Clodius Pulcher (near Ercolano in Castel Gandolfo). and perhaps of Pompey the Great (in the Villa Doria)
Nevertheless, until the time of Domitian, the stretch of the Appian Way between Bovillae and Aricia (modern Frattocchie in Marino and Ariccia) was completely free of buildings.Emanuele Lucidi, part 1, chapter 3, page 29
In the Republican period, the area of the later castra was occupied by fortifications remains of which were found at various points in central Albano Laziale.
Domitian built his palace near Castel Gandolfo on an estate containing several imperial properties, with an area of about 14 km2. The villa was probably garrisoned by a detachment of the Praetorian Guard when the Emperor was in residence. The villa was frequently used by Domitian but later fell into disuse, on account of the construction of Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli in (117-136), who also began a policy of selling surplus Imperial property, including some of the villas on the edge of "Albanum Caesarum".
Septimius Severus to Philip the Arab
The castra was built in about 198 by Septimius Severus (193-211) who came to the throne after the Year of the Five Emperors and a violent civil war and temporarily dissolved the Praetorian Guard and brought the Legio II Parthica near Rome for his personal and political security. This legion had been created in 197 for the (successful) campaign against Parthia which ended in 198.
Its site on a steep slope had a panoramic view for observation of the Ager Romanus.
When Caracalla (211-217) came to power after assassinating his brother and co-emperor, Geta, the Legio Parthica refused to accept him as sole emperor. He went in person to Castra Albana and convinced the legion to remain loyal increasing their stipend by 50%Historia Augusta: Caracalla 2.7-8 and improving the camp by having the Baths of Caracalla built.
The amphitheatre was built in the middle of the 3rd century and could mark the end of the period of highest prosperity for the Legio II Parthica which may no longer have been there. The fortress was abandoned in the late 3rd or early 4th century and the civilian town expanded over it.
Decline of the castra after Constantine
Constantine I (306-337) founded the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista at Albano Laziale during the pontificate of Pope Silvester I (314-335), providing it with decorations and substantial property nearby,Liber Pontificalis 34.30 including the sceneca deserta vel domos civitatis (the abandoned tents or the houses of the city). The modern Albano Laziale was built on the remains of the castra which are generally found up to 2 m below the modern ground level.
Description
Circuit wall
Like all Roman castra, the Castra Albana followed a regular design of a large fortified rectangle with rounded corners reinforced by circular turrets (an unusual feature, but similar to the castra of Hadrian's Wall in Britain), and with four gates (praetoria, decumana, principalis sinistra and principalis dextra),. The walls are of opus quadratum, one of its latest appearances in the Ager Romanus (it was supplanted by Opus latericium). The construction material is Peperino, extracted in situ from the volcanic soil on which the castra was built. The construction was made difficult by the position of the encampment on an 11 degree slope. The perimeter of the wall circuit is 1334 metres with sides northwest 434 m, southeast 437 m, northeast 224 m, southwest 239 m. The total area is around 95,000 m2.
Unlike other fortresses, there were no external defensive ditches or earthworks, as indicated by a road which ran just outside the walls.
Southwest side
The most substantial remains on this side are those of the porta praetoria, the monumental main entrance to the castra (instead of the more usual Porta Principalis), 36 m wide and still 14 m tall, and a unique example of legionary fortress architecture. It overlooked the Via Appia 20 m away which passed in front of it and was a form of imperial propaganda aimed at passing travellers. Located at the midpoint of the wall, the gate was incorporated into a later building until the devastating Anglo-American aerial bombardment of 1 February 1944. The central archway measures around 3 x 5 m with a height of 14 metres while the two side archways were a little over 1 x 5 m. The two side chambers each measure 5.4 x 5 m.
Further to the north, the wall is visible for stretches facing Via San Pancrazio. On the same street, the well-conserved remains of a circular guard tower can be accessed, 3.4 m below the modern ground level of the Via Alcide de Gasperi. The construction poses a problem: the vault of the single room is only 1.6 metres above the level of the intervallum and even allowing for the existence of a second story (per Giuseppe Lugli), the tower would not have reached a plausible height to be a guard tower. The conclusion is that this was a special construction, perhaps only for symmetry with the now-destroyed tower of the southeast corner. At any rate, it has a diameter of 1.2 m, a height of 2.1 m and its walls are 0.9 m thick. Other remains of the wall on this side were found in 1913, during the construction of the modern piazza Giosuè Carducci, and more have been incorporated into the foundations of modern houses.
Northeast side
At the end of the northeastern side of the circuit wall, probable traces of a circular turret were found within the building of the Society of the Sacred Heart near San Paolo until the building's complete destruction by Allied aerial bombardment during the Second World War. The circular room inside the convent, described before the war, had a diameter of 3.6 m and was covered by a low dome of very poor workmanship, probably a modern repair.
A well-preserved stretch of about fifty metres serves as the boundary wall between the episcopal seminary and the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, which govern the church of San Paulo. This stretch was built with very great care, because it had to function as the external retaining wall. For this reason it is also very monumental and robust. No trace remains of the porta decumana which must have been around the middle of this stretch and was probably accessed by a staircase of a ramp.
Past the Via San Francesco d'Assisi, on which the Medieval gate of the Cappuchins opened until the second half of the Nineteenth century, the wall follows the Via Tacito, on the property of the Daughters of Immaculate Mary. At the corner of their property, the rounded corner of the ancient wall is still visible, but the circular turret is not, though the need for the wall to bear its weight is reflected in the stronger structure of the wall.
Southeast side
This is the best preserved side, including the remains of a rectangular guard tower and of the porta principalis sinistra as well as a long stretch of wall, preserved for 142 metres on the Via Castro Partico.
Turning onto the Via Castro Partico sixty metres from the rounded corner, the wall contains a rectangular guard tower, currently put to use as a farmhouse. The internal space measures 5.9 x 3.8 metres and the walls are 0.9 metres thick (except the exterior wall which is inexplicably only 0.6 metres thick). The entrance is still that used in antiquity, facing the inside of the castra and is 1.8 metres wide. The wall then continues on the property of the modern Liceo classico statale Ugo Foscolo and around two hundred metres further on, the remains of the porta principalis sinistra are found - the only one of the two portae principales which can still be seen.
The gate, considered one of the most beautiful remnants of the castra by the archaeologist Giuseppe Lugli, consisted of a single archway 3.8 metres wide. No traces of guard towers have been found on either side.
Northwest side
The greater part of the wall of this side, after the aforementioned circular tower is buried under modern houses. Presumably, the porta principalis dextra was located on the location of a courtyard off the Via Don Giovanni Minzoni. The wall then proceeded along the line of the facades of the houses on the south side of the modern Via San Gaspare del Bufalo, passing the sixteenth century Trident of the streets, and ending at the modern piazza San Paolo, where some remains were found during some hydraulic work in 1904, arranged in horizontal layers to deal with the steep slope of the terrain. There the wall meets the corner described above in the section on the northeast side.
Road network
The road system of a Roman castra consisted of two perpendicular main streets, the via praetoria and the via principalis, with smaller streets running parallel to them. The former ran the whole length of the castra, connecting the porta praetoria with the porta decumana, passing through the praetorium (Headquarters), while the via principalis connected the two portae principales distinguished as sinistra (Left) and dextra (Right).
Stretches of both of these streets have been excavated; only a short stretch of the via praetoria, near the homonymous gate on the modern Alcide De Gasperi Street, while two stretches of the via principalis survive: one near the porta principalis sinistra and the other on San Francesco d'Assisi Street, which was discovered during the archaeological excavations of 1915–1916, 1.1 metres below the modern ground level. This stretch is important because the crepido (sidewalk) facing the gutter was found. In the 1980s excavations carried out by the Museo civico of Albano Laziale and the Ramacci company on the site of a demolished seminary on Castro Pretorio Street discovered the intersection between the via principalis and one of roads running parallel to the via praetoria. This street had been blocked with peperino pilasters in the Medieval period, a sign of the contraction of the inhabited area at the time.
It has also been possible to identify the location of another street within the castra: the via quintana (Fifth Street), which connected the rectangular guard towers. Given the location of one of these towers in Castro Partico Street, the remains of a perpendicular street were found on the part of the via principalis in San Francesco d'Asisi Street, a little past Liceo classico statale Ugo Foscolo.