First an Oscan settlement, then Etruscan, then Samnite, it passed later under Roman rule.

After the Social Wars (89 B.C.) it appears as a 'municipium'; of its history from that date till its destruction (A.D.

79) we know next to nothing.
But excavations, commenced in the eighteenth century and now long suspended, have thrown light on its ground-plan.[83] This was a rectangular pattern of oblong house-blocks, measuring 54 x 89 yds., or in some cases a little more, and divided by streets varying from 15 to 30 ft.

in width which ran at right angles or parallel to one another.
Only a part of the town has been as yet unearthed.

In that a broad colonnaded main street ran from north-west to south-east; on the north-east side of this street stood a row of house-blocks with a structure taken to be a Basilica, and on the south-west of it were ten house-blocks, one of which includes some public baths.