Palestrina (ancient Praeneste; , Praínestos) is a modern Italian city and comune (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon the ruins of the ancient city of Praeneste.

Palestrina is the birthplace of composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Geography Palestrina is sited on a spur of the Monti Prenestini, a mountain range in the central Apennines.

Modern Palestrina borders the following municipalities: Artena, Castel San Pietro Romano, Cave, Gallicano nel Lazio, Labico, Rocca di Cave, Rocca Priora, Rome, San Cesareo, Valmontone, Zagarolo.

History

Palestrina is still dominated today by the enormous ancient Roman sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia built on a series of terraces on the slope of the hill on which the town stands. Further massive Roman terraces support the town itself. The ancient city, however, probably dates from an even earlier period from the 7th c. BC.

Ancient Praeneste

Ancient mythology connected the origin of Praeneste to Caeculus, or to other fabled characters such as Telegonus, Erulus or Praenestus. The name probably derives from the word Praenesteus, referring to its overlooking location.

Early burials show that the site was already occupied in the 8th or 7th century BC. Excavations in the necropolis have shown that in the late 8th century BC (Orientalising Period) a major cultural advance took place with notable eastern imports and with a close relationship with Etruria; the princely 7th c. Barberini (excavated in 1855) and Bernardini tombs had contents of at least the same quality as those in the cemeteries of Etruscan Caere (Cerveteri).C. Densmore Curtis, The Barberini Tomb. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome , 1925, Vol. 5 (1925), pp. 9-52 Published by: University of Michigan Press for the American Academy in Rome Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238524

Praeneste soon became one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Latin towns.Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization, Paperback edition 2008, p. 716

Of the objects found in the oldest graves dating from about the 7th century BC, the cups of silver and silver-gilt and most of the gold and amber jewellery are Phoenician (possibly Carthaginian), but the bronzes and some of the ivory articles seem to be of the Etruscan civilization.

The earliest settlement was probably a citadel on the top of the hill around which a cyclopean wall was built, some of which remains today. In addition two walls of the same date and also visible today descended the slopes down to the town where a cross wall along the lower part of the sanctuary completed the circuit.

Roman gentes with origins in Praeneste Anicia gens Caecilia gens Opellia gens Selicia gens

Latin League

Præneste was already a rich and prosperous town when Rome was still emerging. The rapid development of the Latin towns led to the Latin League from the 8th c. BC for protection against the Etruscans and enemies from surrounding areas, and eventually brought Rome and Præneste together with the others. But Præneste because of her history and wealth felt superior to the others and became Rome's most hated rival as Rome grew rapidly.

Latin wars

Praeneste withdrew from the Latin League in 499 BC, according to Livy (its earliest historical mention), and formed an alliance with Rome after which they won the Battle of Lake Regillus against thirty Latin states. After Rome was weakened by the Gauls of Brennus (390 BC), Praeneste switched allegiances to stem Roman expansion into Latium and establish power for itself and fought against Rome in the long struggles that culminated in the Latin War. From 373 to 370, it was in continual war against Rome or its allies, and was defeated by Cincinnatus.

Praeneste had made a treaty with Rome whereby it retained its own citizenship and Latin status but was required to provide troops to fight in the Roman Republic’s wars. In the Latin War of 340-338 BC, Praeneste fought with the Latin rebels against Rome to retain their remaining independence but after the defeat Praeneste was punished by the loss of part of its territory. Livius 8.14 It became a city allied to Rome (foedus aequum) but equal, permitting Roman exiles to live there, which made the city more prosperous.

Dating to this period are tombs from which come the famous bronze boxes (cistae) and hand mirrors, some with inscriptions partly in Etruscan, among which is the famous is the bronze Ficoroni Cista (350-330 BC) (Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome) found in 1738. It is masterfully engraved with pictures of the arrival of the Argonauts in Bithynia and the victory of Pollux over Amycus. The inscription on it is in archaic Latin:Novios Plautios Romai med fecid / Dindia Macolnia fileai dedit ("Novios Plautios made me in Rome, Dindia Macolnia gave me to her daughter"). The caskets are unique in Italy, but a large number of mirrors of precisely similar style have been discovered in Etruria. Hence, although such objects may have come from Etruria, the evidence points decisively to an Etruscan factory in or near Praeneste itself. Other imported objects in the burials show that Praeneste traded not only with Etruria but also with the Greek east.

Republican Rome

Praenestine graves from about 240 BC onwards are surmounted by the characteristic cippus made of local stone, containing stone coffins with rich bronze, ivory and gold ornaments beside the skeleton.

Præneste was linked to Rome by the major Via Praenestina Roman Road, which passed below the city, as an extension of the Via Gabiana.

From the middle of the 2nd century BC the city developed and extended intensively across the lower plateau beneath the slopes of the ancient city, even expanding beyond the valleys that border it and up to the edges of the vast necropolises.F. Demma, Palestrina, S. Lucia: gli scavi presso la ‘casa della Contessa’, in: Il Lazio regione di Roma. Catalogo della Mostra, Palestrina, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, 12 luglio–10 settembre 2002, Roma 2002, 93–110F. Demma, Palestrina, scavi nell’area dell’ospedale Bernardini: una ricca domus tardo-repubblicana e nuovi dati per la topografia della città bassa, in: Il Lazio regione di Roma. Catalogo della Mostra, Palestrina, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, 12 luglio–10 settembre 2002, Roma 2002, 27–29 F. Demma, La ‘Casa dell’Ospedale’ e il mosaico dei grifoni, in: S. Gatti (ed.), Il mosaico dei grifoni. L’edilizia privata a Praeneste, Palestrina 2005, 43–57 The buildings were predominantly in opus incertum. Among the public buildings here was the first thermal baths of "Madonna dell'Aquila".Diana Raiano Praeneste, elementi per una ricostruzione topografica della città bassa: il foro, le terme e il macellum, in Praeneste tra archeologia ed epigrafia, DE GRUYTER 2021 ISBN 978-3-11-076950-0

At the end of the 2nd century BC a grandiose urban renovation project involved the entire city including at least 9 levels of terraces, including on the lower slope massive tuff terrace walls one of which was flanked by a street paved with limestone slabs, now the Via del Sole. The monumental sanctuary of Fortuna was also built at this time (around 120 BC), dominating the city and dwarfing all other buildings not only there, but even those in Rome.Palestrina: Ancient Praeneste https://corvinus.nl/2018/12/18/palestrina-ancient-praeneste-part-1/#_ftn1

An undertaking of this magnitude that required massive excavations and enormous landfills, drainage and canalisation works, the construction of terrace walls, elaborate sacred and public buildings took a long time, even with the slave labour force. Inscriptions with names of numerous magistrates involved in the project indicate its long duration.S. Gatti, Tecniche costruttive tardo repubblicane a Praeneste, in: F. M. Cifarelli (ed.), Tecniche costruttive del tardo Ellenismo nel Lazio e in Campania. Atti del convegno, Roma 2013, 9–24

Praeneste was offered Roman citizenship in 90 BC in the Social War, when concessions had to be made by Rome to cement necessary alliances and the town was made a municipium. Soon afterwards in Sulla's civil war, Gaius Marius the Younger was blockaded in the town by the forces of Sulla (82 BC). When the city was captured, Marius slew himself, the male inhabitants were massacred in cold blood, and a military colony was settled on part of its territory. From an inscription it appears that Sulla delegated the foundation of the new colony to Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus (consul in 73 BC).

The founding of the colonia was probably preceded by proscriptions and a series of property confiscations.Pesando, Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum, ovvero l’esperimento dell’oligarchia, MEFRA 27/2, 2015, 457–467 During the 1st century BC new domus were built but above all, earlier ones were renovated, likely belonging to the "Mariae" killed by Sulla. Larger domus were built featuring peristyles and frescoed rooms with mosaic floors, with widespread use of opus reticulatum in tuff, often combined with bricks in the wall courses and columns, which gradually replaced the opus incertum in limestone.S. Gatti, Tecniche costruttive tardo repubblicane a Praeneste, in: F. M. Cifarelli (ed.), Tecniche costruttive del tardo ellenismo nel Lazio e in Campania. Atti del Convegno, Roma 2013, 9–24

From the late Republic to the late Empire, markets, baths, shrines and perhaps even a second forum were built in the lower city, near today's Madonna dell'Aquila.Romanelli, Pietro, Palestrina, Di Mauro Editore, Naples, 1967

The Empire

Under the Empire the cool breezes of Praeneste made it a favourite summer resort of wealthy Romans, whose villas studded the neighbourhood, though they ridiculed the language and the rough manners of the native inhabitants. The poet Horace ranked "cool Praeneste" with Tibur and Baiae as favoured resorts. The emperor Augustus stayed in Praeneste, and Tiberius recovered there from a dangerous illness and made it a municipium. The emperor Marcus Aurelius was at Praeneste with his family when his 7-year-old son Verus died.Scriptores Historiae Augustae, "Marcus Aurelius", 21.1 The ruins of the imperial villa associated with Hadrian stand in the plain near the church of S. Maria della Villa, about three-quarters of a mile from the town. At the site was discovered the statue of the Braschi Antinous, now in the Vatican Museums. Gaius Appuleius Diocles (104after 146 AD), a Roman charioteer from Lamego in Lusitania (modern-day Portugal) who became one of the most celebrated athletes in ancient history and is often cited as the highest-paid athlete of all time, was living in Praeneste after his retirement and died there. Pliny the Younger also had a villa at Praeneste, and L. Aurelius Avianius Symmachus retired there.Q. Aurelius Symmachus, Epistulae, Liber I, V

Inscriptions show that the inhabitants of Praeneste were fond of gladiatorial shows.

Medieval history The modern town is built on the ruins of the temple of Fortuna Primigenia. A bishop of Praeneste is first mentioned in 313.

In 1297 the Colonna family, which had owned Praeneste (then known as Palestrina) from the eleventh century as a fief, revolted against Pope Boniface VIII. In the following year the town was taken by Boniface's Papal forces, razed to the ground and salted by order of the pontiff."The Bad Popes" by ER Chamberlin 1969, 1986 Chapter III "The Lord of Europe" page 102-104.

In 1437 the rebuilt city was captured by Giovanni Vitelleschi, a condottiero in the service of the papacy, and once more utterly destroyed at the command of Pope Eugenius IV. It was rebuilt once more and fortified by Stefano Colonna in 1448. It was sacked in 1527 and occupied by the Duke of Alba in 1556.

Barberini Family