CORNICOLANI MOUNTAINS

MONTI CORNICOLANI

Maximum height of 415 m (1,360 feet)

They are included in the orographic group of the Sabine Mountains of which, together with the Lucretili Mountains, form the south section, to the north of the Valley of the River Aniene

Two towns perched above the two main peaks with a shape of a woman’s breasts:

Montecelio

Altitude 350 m (1,150 feet). 2,000 inhabitants

Medieval town with a spiral plan

Maybe it was the ancient city of Corniculum, Latin city destroyed by the king of Rome Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and later resort destination for wealthy Romans

It belonged to the Orsini, Cesi and Borghese families

It got its current name in 1970

S. Giovanni Evangelista

St. John the Evangelist

Rebuilt in 1710 by Filippo Leto

Restored in 1997

1^st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

"S. Luigi"

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

"Miracle of St. Nicholas of Bari"

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

"Sts. Cecilia and Valerianus"

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

"Education of the Virgin Mary" all paintings by Ludovico Stern (1709/77)

CENTRAL CHAPEL

On the right statue in olive wood "Immaculate Conception" 1627

Also three paintings by Giuseppe Cades (1750/99) from the nearby church of St. Mary: "Sts. Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua","St. Bonaventure"and "The Finding of the True Cross"

Antiquarium Comunale

Civic Antiquarium

Established in 2000 in a sixteenth century building, a former oratory on the main square

Documentation of the cultures that have succeded  in the municipality from prehistory with exhibit about the different types of Roman villas

Much of the finds are from excavations in the area of ​​the Tenuta del Cavaliere (Estate of the Knight) where are the New Fruit and Vegetables General Markets of Rome

Sant'Angelo Romano

Altitude 400 m (1,310 feet). 3,300 inhabitants

Known in the thirteenth century as Sant'Angelo in Capoccia because it was a fief of the Capocci family

It belonged, like Montecelio, to the Orsini, Cesi and Borghese families

Rocca Borghese

1200/1400. The Orsini family turned it into a fortified castle with four cylindrical towers

It had its heyday in 1594 under the rule of the Cesi family

It became a public building in 1989 in the jurisdiction of the local administration

S. Maria

St. Mary

1748, leaning against a stretch of the Medieval walls

On the main altar "Madonna with Child" by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508)

"Rome was the setting and the privileged place of his activities. Rarely it happens to find an artist so strongly rooted in his city such as Antoniazzo Romano: there is no news of him moving around or traveling, let alone of works executed outside the small confines of the city of Rome and its surroundings. Even the works on panel requested from clients in the Lazio region were probably made in his Roman workshop and from there sent in the peripheral cities" (Anna Cavallaro)