Ardea is an ancient town and comune in the province of Rome, 35 km south of Rome and about 4 km from today's Mediterranean coast.
The economy is mostly based on agriculture, although, starting from the 1970s, industry has had an increasingly important role.
In Antiquity, Aredea was most often mentioned in connection with the Via Ardeatina, one of the consular roads, to which it gave its name. Columella owned a farm there.
Ardea was the capital of...
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Ardea is an ancient town and comune in the province of Rome, 35 km south of Rome and about 4 km from today's Mediterranean coast.
The economy is mostly based on agriculture, although, starting from the 1970s, industry has had an increasingly important role.
In Antiquity, Aredea was most often mentioned in connection with the Via Ardeatina, one of the consular roads, to which it gave its name. Columella owned a farm there.
Ardea was the capital of the Rutuli, mentioned in the Aeneid. The town was captured by Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the Etruscan king of Rome. In 509 BC it is mentioned as a Roman ally. In 443 BC the Volscians laid siege to Ardea. The siege was soon broken by Roman troops under the leadership of Geganius.
During the Second Punic War, it was one of the few cities that refused military support to Rome, and, after the Roman victory, was deprived of its autonomy. In the 3rd-2nd centuries BC it decayed until, in the Imperial Age, it was scarcely populated at all.
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