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VELLETRI (anc. Velitrae)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 979 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VELLETRI (anc. Velitrae) , a See also:town and episcopal see of the See also:province of See also:Rome, See also:Italy, at the See also:south-See also:east See also:foot of the See also:outer See also:ring See also:wall of the See also:Alban See also:crater, 26 m. S.E. of Rome by See also:rail, 1155 ft. above See also:sea-level. Pop. (1901) 14,243 (town), 18,734 (See also:commune). It is the seat of the See also:bishop of See also:Ostia, and has a statue of See also:Pope See also:Clement VIII. See also:Good See also:wine is made in the fertile vineyards of the See also:district, and there is a See also:government experimentalstation for viticulture. Velletri is the junction of the See also:Terracina See also:line and a See also:branch to Segni on the See also:main line to See also:Naples. Velletri has a See also:fine view of the Volscian mountains and over the Pomptine Marshes to the Circeian promontory. The town contains a few See also:objects of See also:interest; at the highest point is the prominent municipal See also:palace, containing a few See also:ancient See also:inscriptions; among them one See also:relating to a restoration of the See also:amphitheatre under Valentinian and See also:Valens. The See also:internal See also:facade of the Palazzo Ginetti is. finely decorated with See also:stucco, and has a curious detached See also:baroque See also:staircase by Martino Lunghi the younger, which See also:Burckhardt calls unique if only for the view to which its arched colonnades serve as a See also:frame. The lofty campanile of S.

Maria in Trivio, erected in 1353 in gratitude for the liberation of the See also:

city from a See also:plague which devastated it in 1348, is in the See also:style of contemporary See also:brick campanili in Rome, but.. built mainly of See also:black selce, with See also:white See also:marble columns at the windows. The See also:cathedral (the see of the titular bishop of Ostia) was reconstructed in 166o, but contains traces of the older structure. Of the ancient town nothing practically remains above ground; scanty traces of the city walls have been excavated (and covered again) near the railway station, and the See also:present walls are entirely See also:medieval. The ancient city of Velitrae was Volscian in Republican times, and it is the only Volscian town of which an inscription in that See also:language is preserved (4th See also:century B.C.). It mentions the two See also:principal magistrates as medix. It was, however, a member of the Latin See also:League in 499 B.C., so that in origin it may have been Latin and have fallen into Volscian hands later. It was important as commanding the approach to the valley between the Alban and Volscian mountains. In 494 it was taken from the Volscian and became a See also:Roman See also:colony. This was strengthened in 404, but in 393 Velitrae regained its freedom and, was Rome's strongest opponent; it was only reduced in 338, when the freedom of See also:Latium finally perished. Its resistance was punished by Qthe destruction of its walls and the banishment of its town councillors to See also:Etruria, while their lands were handed over to Roman colonists. We hear little or nothing of it subsequently except as the See also:home of the gees See also:Octavia, to which the See also:Emperor See also:Augustus belonged. The neighbourhood contains some remains of villas, but not proportionately very many; there are more on the See also:side . towards See also:Lanuvium (W.).

The Via See also:

Appia passed considerably below the town (some 5 M. away), which was reached by a branch road from it, diverging at the See also:post station of Sublanuvio: During the whole of the See also:middle ages it was subject to the papacy. (T.

End of Article: VELLETRI (anc. Velitrae)

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