Alsium

Alsium, now called Palo, was an ancient city on the coast of Etruria between Pyrgi and Fregenae, on the Via Aurelia, about 35 km from Rome and near the modern Ladispoli. It counted among the oldest towns of Etruria, yet it enters history only with the Roman colonisation of 247 BC. Dionysius lists it among the cities the Pelasgians founded with the aborigines before the Tyrrhenians took it from them, but no source shows it as an Etruscan city during the wars between the Etruscans and Rome. In 247 BC Rome planted a maritime colony there whose settlers were excused from military service, although that exemption was overruled in the strain of the Second Punic War. Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy mention it, and an inscription from the time of Caracalla shows it kept its colonial rank. It was never important in its own right but became a retreat for wealthy Romans, with villas belonging to Pompey, Julius Caesar, Lucius Verginius Rufus and Marcus Aurelius. The town later decayed while villas continued on the site. A 17th-century fort and mole at Palo Laziale reuse ancient materials, and the Etruscan cemetery lies northeast of Palo.