Road station
Alsium
Palo bei Ladispoli [1]
Listen to the story
Alsium, at Palo near Ladispoli, was one of the harbours of the Etruscan city of Caere and became a Roman colony in 247 BC. Later it turned into a seaside retreat of the Roman elite: Pompey had a villa here, Cicero mentions others, and the orator Fronto wrote a whole letter to his pupil, the emperor Marcus Aurelius, about holidays at Alsium, urging him to rest. Remains of great villas still line the shore.