Criptoportico forense

The garden opening onto Piazza Giovanni XXIII leads to the Forensic Cryptoporticus, a monumental construction that delimited a sacred area dedicated to worship. It is a basement building in the shape of a quadrangular horseshoe, consisting of a double corridor with barrel vaults supported by robust pillars made of travertine limestone blocks, finely plastered and lit by wolf's mouth windows.

The monument, datable to the Augustan period, must have constituted a retaining and levelling structure for the terrain, which in that area of the city must have been gently sloping from north to south and created a difference in level between the sacred area and the adjacent forensic stalls.

In addition to its supporting function, it is assumed that the basement part could also have served as a warehouse and military granary, while the probable marble colonnade above it, which has now disappeared, served as a scenic frame for the temples in the sacred area.

The renovation work carried out in the early years of the new millennium made the Cryptoporticus almost entirely accessible, which is one of the most important archaeological sites in Augusta Prætoria due to its excellent condition and visually impressive architecture.

Accessibility: Site not accessible to physically disabled persons in wheelchairs.