The story of Alba Fucens begins in 303 B.C. when a Latin colony of 6000 settlers moved in. The territory of Alba fucens was of great strategic importance for the Romans, establishing a crossroad in central Italy. And so, very soon, it was passed through by important road such as the Via Valeria.
The settlement, later promoted to municipium, went through an older building phase coinciding with its foundation, and then a second, dating to the end of the II and the I century B.C., when important civil buildings such as the basilica, the theatre and the macellum were built, and religious ones such as the sanctuary of Hercules.
The amphitheatre is dated as belonging to the Imperial era, and is one of the best preserved in Abruzzo. Among the important archaeological remains, the sanctuary of Hercules stands out: it is a vast, rectangular area, probably used also as a âforum pecuariumâ (sheep market), encircled by a portico with columns and with the remains of the shrine dedicated to a divinity.