The Lupercalia is one of the most important and most controversial of Roman festivals. This paper addresses the issue of its topography, which has received renewed attention in recent years. It is divided into two main sections, the first discussing the hotly debated location of the Lupercal cave, and the second the course of the running Luperci. The former section reviews the literary and archaeological evidence for the location of the cave, discusses its significance as a unique religious site, and calls for further investigation in the area of the southwest Palatine. The second section seeks to challenge the most influential theories on the course of the Luperci by carefully examining the ancient evidence and the terminology it uses. A contextualization of the sources and the topographic elements they describe shows that many modern theories contain serious flaws when it comes to this subject. Most modern interpretations rely on a passage of Augustine which is very problematic because of his biased interpretatio Christiana. The conclusion is that the festival’s typology as a ritual of lustration is key to understanding the course of the Luperci.

Oramus, si forte non molestum est,
demonstres ubi sint tuae tenebrae.
Te campo quaesivimus minore,
te in circo, te in omnibus libellis,
te in templo summi Iovis sacrato.    5
In Magni simul ambulatione
femellas omnes, amice, prendi,
quas vultu vidi tamen sereno.
†avelte† sic ipse flagitabam,
Camerium mihi, pessimae puellae!    10
Quaedam inquit, nudum reduc <…..>
en hic in roseis latet papillis.
Sed te iam ferre Herculei labos est,
tanto te in fastu negas, amice.
Dic nobis ubi sis futurus, ede    15
audacter, committe, crede luci.
Nunc te lacteolae tenent puellae?
Si linguam clauso tenes in ore,
fructus proicies amoris omnes:
verbosa gaudet Venus loquella.    20
Vel, si vis, licet obseres palatum,
dum vestri sim particeps amoris.
22 vestri V (al. nostri R2m1G2) sim θ: sis V

Poem 55 poses a variety of metrical, textual and semantic problems: why do 13 of its 22 lines have only ten syllables instead of 11? Should ‘poem 58b’ be incorporated into it, and if so, where? What did the narrator say to the girls in line 9? What exactly did the girl say or do in line 11? Who are the lacteolae puellae of line 17? What is the reading (and the meaning) of the last line? This article, however, is concerned only with the topographical details in lines 3–6. I assume for the sake of argument that the poem is complete in itself (even if ‘poem 58b’ is added, it does not affect the topographical question), and I accept the traditional view that Camerius is a friend and approximate contemporary for whom the narrator is searching like Amphitryo for Naucrates, or Epidicus for Periphanes.

Between 1969 and 1975 the excavations promoted by the Soprintendenza alle Antichità dell'Etruria Meridionale in the area to the east of the church of Santa Maria of Falleri identified a building in opus quadratum, located at the intersection between the main east–west and north–south urban road axes. As part of the Falerii Novi Project, this area has been systematically surveyed and (re)studied, applying an interdisciplinary approach. This has allowed the identification in this area of a monumental republican temple, linked to the forum, which should be placed in the context of the earliest development of the town, which has been known to us up to now only via literary sources. The identification of the republican temple of Falerii Novi contributes to fresh insights into the foundation of the town and its urban development.