Shrine of Hercules Curinus

Roman temple ruins on Monte Morrone, sacred long before the Christian hermitages

The Shrine of Hercules Curinus is a Roman-era sanctuary cut into the slopes of Monte Morrone, about 4 km from Sulmona on the way up to the hermitage of Sant'Onofrio. The visible remains include a large terraced platform, the foundations of the cella, and a vaulted substructure — the Italic-Roman engineering still impressive after two thousand years.

The site is open-air and free. The footpath from the Badia Morronese passes through it, so it makes a natural addition to a half-day visit combining the abbey, the shrine, and the hermitage. The views down across the Peligna Valley are excellent, and the spring wildflowers on the surrounding slopes are some of the best in Abruzzo.

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A story
The Italic Peligni tribe worshipped Hercules here before the Roman conquest, and the cult continued under the Romans into the 4th century AD. The site's terraced platform looks out over the whole Peligna Valley — a position so commanding that Pope Celestine V's followers chose the same hillside, just metres away, for the abbey and hermitage of their order a thousand years later.