Rocca Priora is a small town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome,

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is one of the

Castelli Romani The so-called Roman Castles (''Castelli Romani'' in Italian) are a group of '' comunes'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome. They are located a short distance south-east of the city of Rome, at the feet of the Alban Hills, in the territory corres ...

on the

Alban Hills The Alban Hills ( it, Colli Albani) are the caldera remains of a quiescent volcano, volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio. The high Monte Cavo forms a highly visible peak the centre of the caldera, bu ...

about southeast of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, situated in the Regional Park known as the "Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani".

History

Rocca Priora occupied the area of the old

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

town of ''Corbium''; here several battles, described by ancient historians, were fought by Italic peoples. After the destruction of

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome ( ...

in 1191, the population increased. In the 14th century the

Savelli family The House of Savelli (de Sabellis in documents) were a rich and influential Roman aristocratic family who rose to prominence in the 13th century, the youngest is still alive today (1626–2022). History The family, who held the lordship of Palo ...

rose to prominence in the area, after

Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...

endorsed Rocca Priora as a feudal possession for them. They held the town and its castle until the 17th century, apart from two short periods in 1436–47 and in the early 16th century, when it went to

Cesare Borgia Cesare Borgia (; ca-valencia, Cèsar Borja ; es, link=no, César Borja ; 13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian ex- cardinal and '' condottiero'' (mercenary leader) of Aragonese (Spanish) origin, whose fight for power was a major ...

. According to some sources, the town was destroyed by

Renzo da Ceri Renzo da Ceri, true name Lorenzo dell'Anguillara (1475 or 1476 – January 1536) was an Italian condottiero. He was a member of the Anguillara family. Born in Ceri, a small village in Lazio (now part of Cerveteri), he was the son of Giovanni d ...

's troops during the conflict between Pope

Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

and the

Colonna The House of Colonna, also known as ''Sciarrillo'' or ''Sciarra'', is an Italian noble family, forming part of the papal nobility. It was powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one pope (Martin V) and many other church and politic ...

, and by the

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

troops in the wake of the Sack of Rome (1527). After a period as a direct Papal rule, it was sold in part to the

Rospigliosi family The House of Rospigliosi is an ancient noble Italian family from Pistoia. Attested since the Middle Ages, it became wealthy through agriculture, trade and industry, reaching the apogee of its power and the high nobility status in Rome thanks to G ...

, who held it until 1870, when it became a commune as part of the newly formed

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

Twin cities

Sohland an der Spree Sohland an der Spree (German) or Załom ( Upper Sorbian) is a municipality in the district of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany near the border of the Czech Republic in a region called Lusatia. The river Spree flows through the village. Together with som ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

People

Gregorius Maltzeff Gregorius or ''The Good Sinner'' is a Middle High German narrative poem by Hartmann von Aue. Written around 1190 in rhyming couplets, it tells the story of a child born of the incestuous union of a brother and sister, who is brought up in a mona ...

, painter (1881–1953) *

Marco Amelia Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

, football player (1982)

References

Cities and towns in Lazio Castelli Romani {{Lazio-geo-stub