British School at Rome: Papers of the British School at Rome (9.1920)

The Via Claudia Valeria.

97

junction of the two rivers. Two tombs, both inhumation, were excavated,
the second of which revealed two inscriptions, of uncertain interpretation
and late date. On the hill known as Ara di Colle, on the right bank of
the Tirinus near the confluence, scanty remains 1 of walls, tiles and tombs
of the Roman period, have been noticed and an inhumation tomb was
found in the contrada La Tufera just to the right of the Aterno near the
confluence. It has been proposed to place Interpromium ‘ ad con-
fluentes Aternum et Tirinum,’ but these discoveries, though they un-
doubtedly show that the spot was inhabited in Roman times, by no means
justify the identification.2 In the Gola di Popoli there are unfortunately
no indications of the course of the Via Claudia Valeria, nor again in the
defile which follows until the valley broadens below Tocco Casauria
and the heights on each side become less imposing. Just on the boundary
between the communes of Tocca Casauria and Torre de’ Passeri, in the
contrada Madonna degli Angeli, on the right bank of the Pescara, remains
of walls and tombs of the Roman period have been discovered. There
is nothing, however, to inform us more specifically of the vicus which
certainly stood upon that site.
The Badia 3 of S. Clemente a Casauria, which is seen just below
Torre de’ Passeri on the left bank of the Pescara, must certainly be re-
garded as being in the vicinity of the site of Interpromium. Interpro-
mium is mentioned several times in the ancient Itineraries,4 but as the
distances which separate it from the stations immediately before and
after it (Corfinium and Teate) vary in every statement of them which we
possess, the solution of the problem is attended by considerable difficulty.
The most decisive piece of informa-tion which we possess concerning
1 Not. Scav. 1877, pp. 126, 127.
2 Not. Scav. 1877, p. 127. A. de Nino here proposed to put Interpromium at Ara di
Colle, but afterwards (Not. Scav. 1895, pp. 442-446) he changes his opinion.
3 Calore in Arch. Stor. dell Arte, iv. (1891), 9 seq. ; Keppel Craven, Excursions in the
Abruzzi, vol. i. p. 281 seq.
1 According to scale measurements the estimated distances are ; from Corfinium to
Interpromium m.p. 12, from Interpromium to Teate m.p. 16. TheItinerarium Antoninianum
gives, in one passage (p. 308), Corfinio—Xi.—Interpromium—XVII.—Teate Marrucino.
Elsewhere (p. 101) the distance from Sulmo to Interpromium is given as m.p. 25 ; thus,
since (Caesar, B.C. i. 18) Sulmo was m.p. 7 distant from Corfinium, the distance separating
Corfinium and Interpromium is shewn to be m.p. 18. According to another passage
Ostia Aterni is m.p. 25 distant from Interpromium and, as the distance from Ostia Aterni
to Teate is according to measurements m.p. 8, that between Teate and Interpromium is
m.p. 17. In any case the Itinerary points to a site between the villages of S. Valentino
and Tocca Casauria. Cf. Mommsen, C.I.L. ix. p. 286.