ROCCA DI PAPA

Altitude 680 m (2,230 feet). 14,000 inhabitants

The first name was Castrum Montis Albanis and it had its current name in the twelfth century thanks to Pope Eugenius III (1145/53)

S. Maria Assunta in Cielo

St. Mary of the Assumption

1664 started maybe by Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79) for Cardinal Girolamo Colonna and finished 1754 by Pietro Passalacqua (1690/1748) and Domenico Gregorini (1692/1777)

It collapsed in 1814 as a result of the earthquake of 1806

Rebuilt in 1845 by Domenico Palmucci

It was destroyed again in 1944, this time by the bombing of the Allied Forces, and it was rebuilt in 1949

COUNTER FAÇADE

"Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and Saints" by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721), a pupil of Andrea Sacchi and later influenced by Carlo Maratta

"S. Vincent Ferrer" by Lorenzo Masucci (?/1785)

RIGHT TRANSEPT

"St. Charles Borromeo giving communion to people affected by plague" 1854 by Domenico Toietti (known 1840/62) artist of Rocca di Papa

MAIN ALTAR

Stucco relief "Glory of Angels" 1831 by Giuseppe Pacetti pupil of Bertel Thorvaldsen

LEFT TRANSEPT

"Assumption" 1739 by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66) for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

"Madonna" of the fourteenth century maybe by the Sienese school

"Salvator Mundi" first half of the sixteenth century maybe by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

Geophysical Museum

Established in 2005 in an area called Vivaro, near the ancient Colonna Fortress

Astronomical Observatory "Franco Fuligni"

Monte Cavo

Mount Cavo

949 m (3,113 feet) high. It was the sacred Mons Albanus for the ancient Romans

Ancient place of worship at the TEMPLE OF JUPITER OF THE LAZIO REGION, Iuppiter Latiaris, of which absolutely nothing is left

ON THE EASTERN SLOPES

Sanctuary of the Madonna del Tufo with "Madonna" by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508)

"Undisputed leader in the Roman artistic scene of the fifteenth century and continuously active in Rome throughout the second half of the century until the turn of the sixteenth century, by which time the painting scene was turning into the modern language of the Renaissance of Raphael and Michelangelo" (Anna Cavallaro)

ON THE WESTERN SLOPES

CONVENT OF PALAZZOLO near Lake Albano. Eleventh century, rebuilt in mid-1700s

NEARBY THE MOUNTAIN

VIA SACRA (Sacred Way)

Still partly preserved, originally leading to the Temple of Jupiter of the Lazio Region as branch from Aricia of the Via Appia (Appian Way)

TOMB CARVED IN THE ROCK OF PALAZZOLO

First half of the second century AD

Monumental façade about 40 m (131 feet) large, carved into the rock, topped by a stepped pyramid and embossed with "Curule chair with scepter and eagle" framed by "Twelve fasces", six on each side, a sign that it was the tomb of a consul

It was these the very fasces which were used by the archaeologist Giacomo Boni as a model for the symbol of the National Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini

Inside there is a crypt of 2.60 x 2.26 m (8.5 x 7.4 feet)