Road station
Ad Rubras
Grottarossa
Listen to the story
Ad Rubras, at the red ones, is Saxa Rubra, the red rocks, named after the cliffs of red tuff that crowd close to the Tiber at Grottarossa, nine Roman miles out of Rome on the Via Flaminia. Cicero mocks Mark Antony for lying low in a little tavern here, and in 312 AD Constantine's victory over Maxentius began below these heights. Close by stood the villa of Livia, wife of Augustus, where the famous statue of the emperor was found.