Mentana

Mentana is a town and comune, former bishopric and presant Latin Catholic titular see in the province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. It is located 29 kilometres (18 mi) north-east of Rome and has a population of about 21,000.

History

Mentana's name in ancient times was Nomentum, to which the Via Nomentana led from Rome. According to Livy, the town was part of the Latin League, which went to war with Rome during the reign of Rome's king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. Nomentum was one of a number of towns captured by Tarquinius.

It was a Latin town, but was considered by some to be Sabine, and, like Fidenae and Ficulea, was excluded from the first region by Augustus, who made the Anio river its northern boundary. The city was part of the League defeated by Rome in the Battle of Lake Regillus, and was captured definitively in 338 BCE.

Subsequently Nomentum received the civitas sine suffragio; in its municipal constitution the chief magistrate even in imperial times bore the title of dictator. Pliny and Martial often praise the fertility of its neighbourhood.