Larino: ricerche nell'area del Foro

Since 2007, a new project directed by Prof. Enzo Lippolis, Sapienza University of Rome, has been tak- ing place in Larino, Campobasso. The project mainly consists of the structural analysis and the general reconsideration of the monuments still preserved in the archaeological area where the forum of the Roman city was thought to be. In addition to the above mentioned activities, new excavations have been undertaken at the site. The excavation and the whole project aim to investigate, both at an historical and archaeological level, the forms and characters of the pre-Roman urban planning at ancient Larinum and their cultural implications. Between the pre-Roman and Roman ages important transformations appear to be recognisable in the urban planning form as well as in the features of local society - as literary and epigraphical evidence suggest. This paper focuses on some preliminary investigation results: studies and continuing researches on the major monuments of the forum area allow us to define the main stages of the urbanisation process, from the point at which public spaces lacked a unifying design to the new planning and architectural embel- lishment of the Roman and Late Antiquity eras.