The Roman temple of Château-Bas is a Roman ruin located to the east of Vernègues, in the park of the “Château-Bas” wine estate located along the road connecting Vernègues and Cazan. It dates from the late 1st century BC.
The temple, located in the center of a semicircular sacred enclosure, is today reduced to a few ruins. A large fluted column is surmounted by a capital with acanthus leaves. A smooth pilaster is located at the corner of the cella (closed part of the temple) and surmounted by a square capital with acanthus leaves.
A Romanesque chapel of modest dimensions (Saint-Cézaire chapel in Château-Bas) leans against the eastern wall of the Roman temple, partially reusing it.
References:The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains: the extraordinary system contains fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 875 meters of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Tivoli had been a popular summer residence since ancient Roman times due to its altitude, cooler temperatures and its proximity to the Villa Hadriana, the summer residence of the Emperor Hadrian I.
The Villa was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572), second son of Alfonso I d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara and grandson of Pope Alexander VI, along with Lucrezia Borgia.