The Roman city of Itálica, located on the lower Guadalquivir, half-way between Sevilla (Hispalis) and Alcalá del Río (Ilipa) and very close to the routes which link the mining area of the Sierra Norte of Sevilla and Huelva, played an important strategic role both in political-military life and economic life during the height of the Roman Empire.

It dates back to the year 206 BC, when General Publius Cornelius Scipio, during the second Punic War, defeated the Carthaginians in the battle of Ilipa and legionaries set up in the Cerro de San Antonio, in which a Turdetanian population had been living since the 4th century BC. Although both communities may have lived together in this space near the Guadalquivir, soon the Roman element imposed its social and political ways. In the second half of the 1st century BC, the city acquired municipal status and, over time, under the emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), colonial status, and becomes equal to the metropolis in administrative terms.

The families of Emperors Trajan and Hadrian originally come from Itálica as did many Senators of the time.

The Archaeological Ensemble of Italica is an administrative unit which depends of the Ministry of Culture of Junta de Andalucia.