Vetralla - Foro Cassio - Furcari - Chiesa di Santa Maria
Two thousand of History and histories
Volunteers for reception
Municipality of Vetralla
V stage of Sigeric's diary from Rome
Via Francigena
Sigeric of Canterbury, known in Anglo-Saxon countries as Sigeric the Serious, was hosted in the church of Foro Cassio, transcribed as Furcari, which since then represents the fifth stage of the Via Francigena
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This site is under construction
Founded in the 2nd century BC as a military garrison along the Via Cassia, it became an important settlement in Roman times. In the Middle Ages, it was cited as a Massa, an important agricultural settlement. Today, it is a church deconsecrated worth visiting, boasting important historical and artistic treasures and a place dedicated to welcoming pilgrims on the Via Francigena.
Click to listen Maestro Marco Schiavoni's composition music
Who we are
We welcome pilgrims with passion and dedication.
Forum Cassii arose in a strategic location along the Via Cassia (built around the mid-2nd century BC): from here, a bypass road connected it to the Via Clodia. Initially, it served as a Statio, a sort of Roman army barracks, and a rest and post station. In Roman times, it was the most important settlement in the Vetralla area, boasting baths with mosaics, waterworks, luxurious buildings, and a small amphitheater, as documented in an article in Archeologia Classica by Stefania Quillici Gigli in 1977. The settlement of Forum Cassius is mentioned in three of the great "itineraria" of late antiquity: the Tabula Peutingeriana, the Itinerarium Antonini, and the Cosmographia by the Anonymous Author of Ravenna. These documents testify to its uninterrupted function as a station, from the 4th to the 10th century, along the consular Via Cassia and then along the Via Francigena, which was one of the most important European communication routes in the Middle Ages. In 852, a Papal Bull of Leo IV mentions the Massa di Forum Cassii: an agricultural estate with farmhouses, land, vineyards, and woods. The original structural layout of the church perhaps dates back to this period. In 990, Archbishop Sigeric, after receiving the Pallium from the Pope, returned from Rome to Canterbury. The English archbishop described the 79 stages of his itinerary, noting them in a diary.
Hospitality
Pilgrims passing through Foro Cassio will have access to toilets water a little bike assistance and will be able to take a break amidst the history and beauty that the site offers, including frescoes and thousands of years of history.
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