Fidenae

Fidenae was an ancient town of Latium vetus about eight kilometres north of Rome on the Via Salaria, on the left bank of the Tiber, which marked the boundary between Etruria and Latium. It stood on the frontier, an Etruscan extension into Latium or a Latin border town of Alban foundation, and changed hands between Rome and its rival Veii. According to tradition it was defeated by Rome under Romulus, Tullus Hostilius and Tarquinius Priscus, and Livy later describes it as a Roman colony. The citadel probably occupied the hill where Villa Spada now stands, with pre-Roman tombs in the cliffs to the north, and a curia with an inscription to Marcus Aurelius was excavated in 1889. In 27 AD a poorly built wooden amphitheatre collapsed here, killing at least 20,000 people in what was probably the worst stadium disaster in history.