PALO LAZIALE

Ancient city of Alsium, today just a semi abandoned seaside village

It was an Etruscan city first and a Roman colony since 247 BC with villas

On the beach of MARINA DI SAN NICOLA there are conspicuous remains of a ROMAN VILLA with mosaics known as "Pompey’s Villa", maybe originally called Villa Alsiensis, maybe also owned by Julius Caesar, dating back to the first century BC and occupied throughout the imperial period

The villa consisted of several buildings with porticos, a cryptoporticus (a long corridor with windows) and a turris (Tower)

In an area of ​​the villa, rich in marble, used to be located a two-faced statue, known as Erma di Marina di San Nicola (Herm of Marina di S. Nicola) maybe representing Aegean, father of Theseus, of the second century AD, considered one of the most beautiful ancient heads ever found, now kept at the Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia

Odescalchi Castle

It was built during the fifteenth century

It was at one time property of the Orsini family

Square layout with corner towers

Here the painter Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610) was imprisoned for two days in July 1610, a few days before his death and he was probably killed in this very castle, not in Porto Ercole in Tuscany as it is commonly said

The park is about 50 hectares (123 acres) large and here John Houston in 1964 decided to set the opening scene (the earthly paradise) of the Hollywood blockbuster "The Bible"

On a nearby stretch of the Via Aurelia Dino Risi shot a scene of the Italian movie "Il Sorpasso” (The Overtaking) and many other movies in the '50s/'60s were shot in the vicinity of the castle

Villa La Posta

It was built in 1640 for Prince Odescalchi

It was inhabited from 1960 to 1975 by Paul Getty, the world's richest man of the time, who embellished it with works of art with the advice of the art historian Federico Zeri

It was transformed in 1990 into one of the most luxurious hotels in the world with 19 suites or rooms

In 1970 in the cellars of the building an ancient ROMAN VILLA came to light inhabited since the first century BC with a U plan and polychrome mosaics of the third/fourth century AD. It is visible in the basement of the hotel

WWF Natural Oasis of Palo

About 120 hectares (300 acres)

Inaugurated in April 1981

Monteroni

On the 35th km of the Via Aurelia

It is a rare example of a fortified farmhouse of the fourteenth century maybe built over previous structures

It was for centuries a hotel and a tavern for travelers between Rome and Civitavecchia

Mario Monicelli shot here the last scene of his masterpiece movie “La Grande Guerra” (The Great War)

Nearby there are the TWO ETRUSCAN MOUNDS OF MONTERONI excavated in 1838 with several rooms around a central one

In addition, 3.5 km away to the left of Fosso Vaccina, there more ETRUSCAN MOUNDS dating back to the seventh or sixth century BC