SEGNI

Altitude 668 m (2,200 feet). 9,000 inhabitants

It was originally called Signia, ancient city of the Volsci people, conquered by the king of Rome Tarquin the Proud. The city was always faithful to Rome

Long stretches of the TWO BOUNDARY WALLS (about 5 km - 3.1 miles - long) are still visible: the outer wall is the oldest, late sixth century BC, whereas the internal wall was built at the beginning of the fifth century BC

Fief of the Counts of Segni later known as Conti. It later belonged to the families Sforza Barberini and Sforza Cesarini

It was the summer home of many popes

It was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War

Every second Sunday of August, the four districts compete in the Giostra Maialetto (tournament of the piglet)

Cathedral

It was built during the tenth century in Romanesque style and rebuilt in the years 1626/57

FAÇADE 1817 by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839)

Below the left side there's a stretch of the old city walls

In the dome "Coronation of Mary and Evangelists" by Frà Antonio Courtois (brother of Jacques Courtois aka Borgognone)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

"Bust of St. Bruno" with a relic of the saint

On the sides "Stories of St. Bruno" by Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703)

RIGHT TRANSEPT

"Madonna and Child with Sts. Dominic and Catherine of Siena" by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

LEFT TRANSEPT

"Glorification of the Cross" by Jacques Courtois aka Borgognone (1628/79)

Saracen Gate

Part of the walls of the sixth/fifth century BC with restorations carried out later

Acropolis

Rectangular building shaping the fence of a temple built around 250 BC, identified as the Temple of Juno Moneta

Now in the middle cella is the Church of St. Peter of the thirteenth century, restored in the eighteenth and nineteenth century