Alba Longa

Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy, 19 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Rome, in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by the Roman Kingdom around the middle of the 7th century BC, and its inhabitants were forced to settle in Rome. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, had come from the royal dynasty of Alba Longa, which in Virgil's Aeneid had been the bloodline of Aeneas, a son of Venus. According to Livy, Roman patrician families such as Julii, Servilii, Quinctii, Geganii, Curiatii and Cloelii originated in Alba Longa.