The urban plan of Priverno, strongly influenced by the orography, is centered on the Via Consolare, which with a curvilinear path follows the slope of the hill halfway up.
In the middle of the long main street the town square opens up “Piazza Giovanni XXIII” which is the hub of city activities and it is dominated by the Duomo-Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata (guardian of the relic of St. Thomas Aquinas, patron Saint of Priverno, who died in Fossanova in 1274).
The Urban Museum System
The Privernum Archaeological Area, the Archaeological Museum and the Medieval Museum retrace and tell the stages of the complex urban history of Privernum - Piperno - Priverno.
The Archaeological Museums
The Privernum Archaeological Area is an open-air museum that recomposes the urban landscape of the Roman Privernum. The Archaeological Museum showcases the results of excavation and research activities to narrate the same stories through statues and artifacts.
The Medieval Museum
The Medieval Museum of Fossanova focuses on the Middle Ages’s comprehension and it is located in a Middle Ages contest which tells, within a suggestive outline of the thirteenth century, the last stages of the life of Privernum and the becoming of the Cistercian abbey complex of the ancient village of Fossanova.
The Village of Fossanova
In the village of Fossanova stands the majestic Abbey of Santa Maria, consecrated by Pope Innocent III in 1208. The main nucleus consists of the Church with the Cloister on which the Refectory, the Chapter Room, the Infirmary of the Monks and the Abbot’s house where St. Thomas Aquinas died in 1274. Fossanova abbey is one of the finest example of Gothic-Cistercians architecture in Italy.
San Martino Park
A few kilometers away from the historical center of Priverno, we find San Martino Park, a Natural Monument of Lazio, a noteworthy recognition for the green lung of the city. Inside the park, which extends all around for about 15 hectares, stands Villa Tolomeo Gallio, an exquisite Renaissance palace dated back 1565 and one of the Historical Residences of Lazio Region.
