Cales

Ausoni, on the Via Latina

Social War it became a municipium. The fertility of its territory and its manufacture of black glazed pottery, which was even exported to Etruria, made it prosperous. At the end of the 3rd century BC it appears as a colony, and in the 5th century (AD) it became an episcopal see, which (jointly with Tano since 1818) it still is, though it is now a mere village. The cathedral, of the 12th century, has a carved portal and three apses decorated with small arches and pilasters, and contains a fine pulpit and episcopal throne in marble mosaic. Near it are two grottos, which have been used for Christian worship and contain frescoes of the 10th and 11th centuries.^[1] Inscriptions name six gates of the town: and there are considerable remains of antiquity, especially of an amphitheatre and theatre, of a supposed temple, and other edifices.^[2]