Banditella, Nuova Florida, Castagnetta, Castagnola, Centro Regina, Nuova California, Colle Romito, Lido dei Pini, Marina di Ardea, Rio Verde, Tor San Lorenzo, Tor San Lorenzo Lido, Montagnano.
The city's foundation is attributed to different sources. Some writers suggest it was established byArdeas, a son ofOdysseus andCirce, while the more widely accepted tradition attributes it toDanaë, the mother ofPerseus. Both versions imply aPelasgic origin.Barthold Georg Niebuhr considers Ardea to have been the chief city of the Pelasgian segment of the Latin nation. He also connects its king,Turnus, to theTyrrhenians. In theAeneid, Ardea is portrayed as the capital of theRutuli, a people who either vanished or merged into the Latin population. Despite this, King Turnus is depicted as being under Latinus authority while maintaining his own sovereignty. Additionally,Livy mentions that the Ardeans along withZacynthians, were involved in foundingSaguntum inSpain.[3]
In 509 BC,Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, theking of Rome, sought unsuccessfully to take the town by storm, and then commenced a siege of the town.[4] However, the siege was interrupted by therevolution which resulted in the overthrow of the king and the establishment of theRoman Republic. One of the leaders of the revolution,Lucius Junius Brutus, came to the camp of the Roman army at Ardea and won the army's support for the revolution.
In 443 BC, theVolscians laid siege to Ardea. The siege was soon broken by Roman troops under the leadership ofMarcus Geganius Macerinus.
After the Roman conquest, Ardea was most often mentioned in connection with theVia Ardeatina, one of theconsular roads, to which it gave its name.
During theSecond 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 the3rd–2nd centuries BC, it decayed until, in theImperial Age, it was scarcely populated at all. The1st century agricultural writerColumella possessed estates there.[5]
A view of the ancientagger
After the fall of theWestern Roman Empire, Ardea was abandoned. It returned to grow only after the9th century AD. Its castle in 1118 housedPope Gelasius II and was later contended among various feudal barons of the area. In 1419,Pope Martin V assigned it to his kinsmen, theColonna family, who sold it in 1564 to the Cesarini.
In 1816, it became afrazione ofGenzano. Starting from 1932, the surrounding area was drained and Ardea began to flourish again, becoming afrazione ofPomezia starting from its foundation around 1948 and an independent municipality in 1970.
Remains of the ancient city include the old defensiveagger, dating to the7th century BC and later (4th century BC) updated to larger walls. Archaeological excavations have brought to light four temples, of unknown dedication. Part of the pavement of abasilica (c. 100 BC) have also been found in the area of the ancient Forum.Other sights include:
