Iuvanum occupies a plateau almost 1,000 metres above sea level near Montenerodomo in Abruzzo, with the Maiella massif rising to the west. The territory belonged to the Carricini, a Samnite people, before Roman reorganization. After the Social War of 90–88 BC the settlement developed as a municipium, gaining the forum, basilica, shops, streets, temples and theatre visible today.
Earlier activity reaches at least the fourth or third century BC, while occupation continued after a major earthquake in AD 354 and into the sixth century. In the Middle Ages, the sacred hill was reused for Santa Maria di Palazzo, first a Benedictine and later Cistercian monastery. Reused inscriptions and stones make the site a layered landscape rather than a Roman city frozen at one date.
