Description : Pollentia (Catalan: Pol·lèntia) was a Roman city founded by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus in the present city of Alcúdia, allegedly in the year 123 BC. The first documented remains belong, however, to the first half of the 1st century BC. This had led the researches to establish the possibility of the creation of a castra (military camp) by the military expedition that, a generation later, would derivate in the current city of Pollentia. Like the other Roman cities founded by consul Metellus, it is believed Pollentia was a Roman castra (camp) until c. 70 BC, when, according to the excavations in the forum area, the urbanization of the city was reorganized and monumentalized. Pollentia was a rich and prosperous city, whose conserved area is around 16 hectares. This area suffered a devastating fire in the 3rd century AD, but the city was not depopulated, since the construction of a fortification in the 5th century AD has been documented in the same forum. In the following centuries, Pollentia was partially or totally unpopulated, with the Christian medieval population settling down a bit further north, in the present town of Alcúdia. Excavations, since the 16th century, but especially since the beginning of the 20th century, have occurred mainly in the area of Sa Portella (a residential district), the city forum and the tabernae, and in the theater.
See on map »Description : Pollentia, known today as Pollenzo (Piedmontese: Polèns), was an ancient city on the left bank of the Tanaro. It is now a frazione (parish) of Bra in the Province of Cuneo, Piedmont, northern Italy. In antiquity Pollentia belonged to the Ligurian Statielli, Augusta Bagiennorum (modern Roncaglia in the Comune of Bene Vagienna) being 16 km to the south. Its position on the road from Augusta Taurinorum (modern Turin) to the coast at Vada Sabatia (modern Vado Ligure, near Savona), at the point of divergence of a road to Hasta (modern Asti), gave it military importance. Decimus Brutus managed to occupy it an hour before Mark Antony in 43 BC. Here Stilicho on April 6, 402, fought the Battle of Pollentia with Alaric I, which though undecided led the Goths to evacuate Italy. The place was famous for its brown wool and pottery. Today it is home to the University of Gastronomic Sciences which offers undergraduate, graduate and masters programs focused on gastronomy and food tourism. According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica considerable remains of ancient buildings, including an amphitheater, a theater and a temple were still in existence, although the so-called temple of Diana was more probably a tomb.
See on map »