Iturissa was a Roman town in north-west Spain in the province of

Hispania Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia was the ...

, now the province and autonomous community of

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

. Iturissa was mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century as "a town of the Vascones." The name ''Iturissa'' is the latinization of a Basque word ''Iturritza'', meaning source or spring. It was mentioned in the

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous ''itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly ...

as the location of a

mansio In the Roman Empire, a ''mansio'' (from the Latin word ''mansus,'' the perfect passive participle of ''manere'' "to remain" or "to stay") was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or ''via'', maintained by the central government for the use ...

on the road ''

Ab Asturica Burdigalam Ab Asturica Burdigalam (numbered as Via XXXIV on the Antonine Itinerary) was a Roman road that linked the towns of ''Asturica Augusta'' (modern Astorga) in Gallaecia and ''Burdigala'' (modern Bordeaux) in Aquitania. The Antonine Itinerary mentio ...

'', which ran from '' Asturica Augusta'' to '' Burdigala'', but has been variously located. The town was inhabited between the first and fourth centuries AD, at which time it was abandoned. It is located on what is called the ''bidezarra'' (old road), which is an abandoned bypass off the current

Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint ...

, which mostly follows the route of the Roman road. In 2011, X-ray photography and excavations definitively placed Iturissa near the present-day community of

Burguete – Auritz Burguete ( Castilian) or Auritz (Basque) is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. Ernest Hemingway lodged in Burguete in 1924 and 1925 for a fishing trip to the Irati river, and desc ...

. Archaeological excavations by the

Museum of London Archaeology MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) is an archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable company registered with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), providing a wide range of professional archaeological servic ...

(MOLA) and Aranzadi, a Basque scientific association, are ongoing as of 2020.

References

Populated places in Hispania Tarraconensis History of Navarre {{AncientRome-stub