Giro d’Italia 2025 Stage 7 Castel di Sangro – Tagliacozzo (168 km)

IF YOU CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Following the discovery, by Antonio De Nino at the end of the 19th century, of the vast necropolis of Campo Consolino, near nearby Alfedena, it is possible to affirm that the first certain evidence of settled populations

in the area of ​​Castel di Sangro date back to the 7th century BC.

The position of the necropolis is not accidental, since in its vicinity stood the ancient Aufidena, an Italic-era settlement, described in ancient sources as one of the main Samnite settlements of the entire area. This pre-Roman settlement was probably located on the mountain where the highest and oldest part of Castel di Sangro was later built. In 298 BC, in the final period of the Samnite wars, Aufidena was conquered by the Romans. Thus, the Upper Sangro Valley underwent Romanization, with all the social, political and economic changes that this process entailed. Subsequently, the territory of Aufidena was included in the IV Augustan region Sabina et Samnium and attributed to the rustic tribe Voltinia.