Alatri Acropolis & Cyclopean Walls

Alatri (Fr) - I blocchi di pietra delle mura megalitiche dell'Acropoli (Megalithic walls)
Alatri - large niche adjacent to Porta Maggiore.


Costruzione ciclopica di epoca preromana, rappresenta, insieme alle mura urbiche, il monumento piu' antico e celebrato della Citta'. La sua ardita struttura di contenimento, caratterizzata da possenti muraglie in opera poligonale, racchiude per intero una vasta area sopraelevata (19.000 mq.) posta al centro dell'abitato cittadino.
Oltre al paramento murario, gia' di per se' sorprendente per la grandezza dei massi impiegati e per l'elevazione raggiunta, degne di ammirazione sono le due porte di accesso: la Porta Maggiore ubicata sul lato meridionale con architrave monolitico di straordinarie dimensioni, e la Porta Minore, assai meno importante ma di eguale suggestione per la presenza all'interno di un angusto corridoio ascendente, perfettamente conservato.
Nei pressi della Porta Maggiore ci sono tre nicchie, la cui funzione sarebbe stata quella di contenere le statue degli dèi protettori della città.



Alatri has well preserved fortifications constructed of tetrahedral and polygonal blocks of local limestone well jointed. It is almost entirely an embanking wall, as is the rule in the cities of this part of Italy, with a maximum height, probably, of about 9 m. Two of the gates (of the perhaps five once existing) are still to some extent preserved, and three posterns are to be found.
In the centre of the city rises a hill which was adopted as the citadel. Remains of the fortifications of three successive periods can be traced, of which the last, perhaps a little more recent than that of the city wall, is the best preserved. In the first two periods the construction is rough, while in the third the blocks are very well jointed, and the faces smoothed; they are mostly polygonal in form and are much larger (the maximum about 3 by 2 m) than those of the city wall. A flat surface was formed partly by smoothing off the rock and partly by the erection of huge terrace walls which rise to a height of over 15 m, enclosing a roughly rectangular area of 220 by 100 m. Two approaches to the citadel were constructed, both passing through the wall; the openings of both are rectangular. The architrave of the larger, known as Porta Maggiore, measures about 5 m in length, 1.5 m in height, 1.8 m in thickness; while that of the smaller is decorated with three phalli in relief.
Archaeologically the town is of significance for its great belt of cyclopean walls (6th century bc) that enclose the superb trapezoid Pelasgian (pre-Hellenic) acropolis, the walls of which are almost intact. The outer circle of walls, about 2.5 miles (4 km) long, supplemented at intervals by fine medieval towers, is penetrated by three massive gates. Other important buildings are the Casagrandi Palace (now the civic museum), the bishop

Image copyright: Luigi Strano (Luigi Strano), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.