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Civitavecchia (, meaning "ancient town") is a city and major Port on the Tyrrhenian Sea west-northwest of Rome. Its legal status is a comune (municipality) of Rome, Lazio.
The harbour is formed by two piers and a breakwater on which stands a lighthouse.
An Etruscan settlement on the hill of Ficoncella can still be seen. The first baths of the settlement were built there before 70 BC, and known by the Romans as Aquae Tauri.
The harbour was greatly enlarged by the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the 2nd century and became known as Centum Cellae, probably due to the many vaulted "cells" forming the harbour wall, some of which can still be seen. The first occurrence of the name Centum Cellae is from a letter by Pliny the YoungerPliny Epist. 6.31 in AD 107. It has been suggested that the name could instead refer to the centum ("hundred") halls of the extensive villa of Trajan which was nearby. The harbour was probably built by Trajan's favourite architect, Apollodorus of Damascus (who also built the harbour of Ancona). The town was also known as Centum Cellae and was developed from the same time. Trajan's sumptuous villa pulcherrima (most beautiful, according to Pliny) must have been built at the same time but traces have yet to be found, although the Terme Taurine baths and the large cistern nearby are likely to have been included.Anna Maria Reggiani, la villa pulcherrima di traiano a CENTUMCELLAE, doi: 10.1387/veleia.19438 Veleia, 35, 129-149, 2018 Pliny was summoned by Trajan to his villa there for an exceptional meeting there of the consilium principis (advisory council) which normally took place in Rome, and which indicates the status of the villa as an imperial residence. The villa was also used later by the young Marcus Aurelius, probably in the years 140-145Fronto, Epist. ad M. Caesarem 3.21.1 who built a vivarium there and also in 173 by Commodus.Historia Augusta, life of Commodus, 1.9
Inscriptions from between the 2nd and 3rd centuries from a cemetery near the Roman harbour prove the presence of classiari, sailors from the navy, and also of a noble class. They also tell of the number and type of ships which were detachments of the fleets of Ravenna and of Misenum.
In 251 Pope Cornelius was imprisoned in Centumcellae during the persecutions of Decius and his successor Trebonianus Gallus and died there in 253.
In the 4th and 5th centuries the city and port became even more prosperous and busy, as Rutilius Namatianus described it in 414Rutilius Namatianus, A Voyage Home to Gaul 217‑276 as it became an important port of Rome due to the silting of Ostia Antica.
In the 530s, Centumcellae was a Byzantine stronghold and until 553 the city suffered in the wars between the Goths and the Byzantines.Procopius, De Bello Gothico VI, VII Procopius, De Bello Gothico VIII.33‑35Procopius, De Bello Gothico III.36‑40
The place became a free port under Pope Innocent XII in 1696 and by the modern era was the main port of Rome. The French Empire occupied it in 1806.
The French novelist Stendhal served as consul for a time in Civitavecchia.
On 16 April 1859 the Rome and Civitavecchia railway was opened for service.
The Papal troops opened the gates of the fortress to the Italian general Nino Bixio in 1870. This permanently removed the port from papal control.
During World War II, the Allies launched several bombing raids against Civitavecchia, which damaged the city and inflicted several civilian casualties. On June 27, 1944, two American soldiers from the 379th Port Battalion, Fred A. McMurray and Louis Till, allegedly raped two Italian women in Civitavecchia and murdered a third. McMurray and Till were subsequently both executed by the United States Army by hanging five months later.
The city is also the seat of two thermal power stations. The conversion of one of them to coal has raised the population's protests, as it is feared it could create heavy pollution.
The is the only remaining Tower of four large Roman round towers that served as beacons around the ancient harbour. Remains of warehouses can be seen between the large basin and the inner harbour (darsena), still used during the Middle Ages.
A section of the Via Aurelia running along the harbour, 6 m wide and at a depth of 3 m, was excavated. Some of the Roman city wall is visible in the basement of the Fraternity of the Banner in the Piazza Leandra. Remains of an aqueduct and a large cistern, possibly part of Trajan's villa, are preserved.
North of the city at Ficoncella are the Terme Taurine baths frequented by Ancient Rome and still popular with the Civitavecchiesi. The modern name stems from the common fig plants among the various pools.
Also at Ficoncella nearby are the baths of Aquae Tauri from the earlier Etruscan and early Roman settlement.F. Stasolla et al., Nuove ricerche nel territorio di Civitavecchia. Un progetto per Aquae Tauri, in Scienze dell'Antichità 24.1 (2018), pp. 149-174. A larger building of 160x100 m enclosed the baths and is being excavated.
Major cruise lines start and end their cruises at this location, and others stop for shore excursion days to visit Rome and the Vatican City, ninety minutes away.
Civitavecchia railway station, opened in 1859, is the western terminus of the Rome–Civitavecchia railway, which forms part of the Pisa–Livorno–Rome railway. A short line linking the town center to the harbour survived until the early 2000s. It counted two stations: Civitavecchia Marittima, serving the port, and Civitavecchia Viale della Vittoria.
Civitavecchia is served by the A12, an unconnected motorway linking Rome to Genoa and by the State highway SS1 Via Aurelia, which also links the two stretches. The town is also interested by a project regarding a new motorway, the Civitavecchia-Venice or New Romea, Article at ANAS website nowadays completed as a dual carriageway between Viterbo and Ravenna (via Terni, Perugia and Cesena) and commonly known in Italy as the Orte-Ravenna.
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