About
Palestrina was built around this spectacular terraced sanctuary dedicated to Fortuna, the pagan goddess.
The Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia was one of the most impressive late-Republican complexes in Roman Italy, and its monumental structure still dominates the center of the Palestrina, the ancient city of Praeneste, located 20 miles southeast of Rome. Praeneste was a powerful Latin city that fought against the Romans and was only defeated in the 4th century BCE. It played an important role in the civil wars between Marius and Sulla in the first century CE. After being integrated at the time of the civil wars, it became particularly renowned in the ancient world for its monumental complex built on different levels of Monte Ginestro.
