Shrine of Hercules Curinus

The attendance of the site did not stop completely, as evidenced by the addition of a church in the Christian era, close to the southern stairway.

The large southern stairway could have been a monumental entrance, perhaps also used as a meeting place for local assemblies, under the protection of the god "Curinus".

The two terraces of the sanctuary were built in different periods: the lower one is more recent, in opus caementicium with a grandiose podium (71 m long) which houses 14 rooms covered by barrel vaults; the upper one, presillano, was closed on three sides by a colonnaded portico (some bases remain).

The altar, unusually covered with bronze plates, and the small sacellum of the divinity were located in the centre of the upper terrace.

The most important finds of the complex come from the sacellum, such as two cult statues of Hercules, one in bronze (in the Archaeological Museum of Chieti) and one in marble, as well as a small column with 12 verses in graffiti, attributed to Ovid.

southern stairway