Aerial drone surveys have revealed a forum and a previously unknown theatre at the Roman site of Fioccaglia in Flumeri, along the legendary Appian Way.
The findings significantly reshape understanding of the settlement’s urban scale and confirm its strategic and cultural importance within the Roman road network.
The latest archaeological campaign in the province of Avellino has produced decisive evidence about the layout of the ancient city. The site, which some scholars identify as the ancient Forum Aemilii dating to the 2nd–1st century BC, is considered central to reconstructing the process of Romanisation in Irpinia.
Its importance is closely tied to its position along the Appian Way—known in antiquity as the Regina Viarum—and to the origin of the Via Aemilia commissioned in 126 BC by the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.
Although excavations in the 1980s had already revealed a paved decumanus and a luxurious domus decorated in the early Pompeian style—evidence of elite presence in the town centre—the new campaign has dramatically expanded the picture.
Directed by Professor Giuseppe Ceraudo of the University of Salento, and conducted in collaboration with regional heritage authorities and the Municipality of Flumeri, the investigation employed drone-based remote sensing to map buried structures with precision.
The surveys clearly identified an orthogonal street grid, with regularly spaced axes characteristic of newly founded Roman cities. Most striking is the identification of the forum—the civic and commercial heart of the settlement—featuring a vast central square bordered by public buildings.
Adjacent to it, researchers detected the remains of a monumental theatre, previously unknown and now interpreted as clear evidence of the town’s social and cultural vitality.
The scale and organisation of the newly documented structures confirm that Fioccaglia was not a minor roadside stop but a fully developed urban centre equipped with representative public architecture.
The discoveries reinforce the settlement’s historical and strategic role within Rome’s transportation infrastructure and underscore its significance along one of antiquity’s most important arteries.
Sources : Ministero Della Cultura
