Lorium was an ancient village of ancient Etruria, Italy, on the Via Aurelia, 19 km west of Rome,[1] [2] near today's Castel di Guido.
The place was mentioned in the Tabula Peutingeriana as the first statio or post station at the 12th mile from Rome. Seven kilometres farther west was the post-station of Baebiana, where inscriptions show that some sailors of the fleet were stationed; no doubt a detachment of those at Centumcellae, which was reached by this road.
An imperial villa nearby was used by Hadrian and Antoninus Pius (r. 138-161) who was educated here and died here.[3] [4] It was also a favourite haunt of Pius' successor as emperor, Marcus Aurelius[5] who complained about the uneven paving stones of the Via Aurelia which caused "his horse to stumble and slip". Statues of imperial figures found during excavations of 1824 confirm that the imperial palace was located between Castel di Guido and the Bottaccia estate.
On the nearby hills are numerous traces of residential Roman villas.[6] Excavations at the Villa dell'Olivella in 2006, conducted after clandestine excavations by grave robbers in 2005, brought to light baths with mosaic floors belonging to a large residential villa of the 2nd-3rd century.[7]