It was stormed by the Romans in 293 BC. It lay at the point of junction of four roads: the Via Caecilia, the Via Claudia Nova and two branches of the Via Salaria.

There are considerable remains of an amphitheatre and a theatre, all of which belong to the imperial period, while on the hill of the surronuding village of S. Vittorino there are some Christian catacombs. There was a bishop here, including the martyred St. Cetteus (d. 597). In the mid-13th century the population was transferred to the newly-founded town of L'Aquila, which was erected as a diocese by Pope Alexander IV, 20 February 1257.

References

• Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopaedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Amiternum (San Vittorino), Latium, Italy"