Archaeological area of Madonna della Cona

The archaeological area was discovered in 1961 near the Messato Bridge in the locality of Madonna della Cona, about three kilometres west of the city centre. In March 2000, on the occasion of the construction of the Anas Variante to the S.S. 80 road, a series of excavation campaigns began, ending in 2012, which resulted in extraordinary discoveries.

The structures that emerged relate to an extensive burial area frequented over a wide chronological span from the 9th century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D.

The extended and original Iron Age inhumation necropolis was taken over in continuity of cult by the Romans towards the end of the 2nd century BC with the construction of a large temple on a high podium at the gates of Interamnia (or Interamana) Praetut(t)iorum.

In the Julio-Claudian period, the funeral rite became incineratory until the first decades of the 2nd century A.D., when, under the impetus of early Christianity, burials were once again carried out in pits with 'capuchin' protections.

The possibly original nucleus, located near the ditch on the Messato stream, has yielded funerary monuments known as stone circles, of the Campovalano type, with rich grave goods datable between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. The Roman necropolis is aligned along the upstream edge of the Via per Roma (the interamnium vorsus or Via Caecilia, more probably a diverticulum of the Via Caecilia). Along the ancient road, the structures of square-based mausoleums with travertine blocks and slabs are clearly recognisable.

The most important mausoleum is that of Sex.(tus) Histimenni.(us), bordered on the street front by cippus with dedicator inscriptions and near which a life-size funerary statue was found (a headless togatus of late Republican culture). 

The necropolis with an incineratory rite has yielded numerous burnt bone remains of finely carved funeral beds of Hellenistic culture and taste.