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 The
history of the most important and renowned center of the Roman
Castles tells of pillages, constructions of Roman villas,
foundation of monasteries, building of baroque villas and a whealth
of ruins
left by the Second World War. In the Roman Age in
the area of Frascati stood the villa attributed to Lucullus that
in the Imperial Age
passed to the family of Flavian emperors. In the the area occupied
by the villa stands today the church of Saint Maria in Vivario
built up in the area correnspondent to the Vivarium (water tank).
Little is known of the medieval past of Frascati: most probably
a Benedictine monastery was erected near the ruins of the ancient
Roman villa and it was thanks to activity of the monks that the
village was kept alive. In the Middle Ages in fact monastic orders,
playing a cultural and economic role, became centers of power in
the territory. At the end of XIII century the importance of Frascati
increased as testified by the restoration of Saint Maria in Vivario
and the construction of the bell tower (in 1305 as written in the
epigraph) still today the most important testimony of medieval
Frascati. In 1354 passed in Frascati also Cola di Rienzo,
that " here
had plenty of bowmen and foot soldiers". During the exile
of Popes in Avignon till the end of the 400’s, Frascati was
under control of the Colonna family, indicated on the maps as castrum,
fortified center. It is thanks to great humanist Pope Pius II of
the Piccolomini family that Frascati began to form itself as a
city: the Pope ordered construction of city walls and a castle,
today bishop’s residence. Nevertheless the town passed under
control of different rulers: in subsequent periods settled the
Apostolic Chamber, cardinal Guglielmo d' Estouteville (Pope Pius
II rival during the conclave in1458), Lucrezia Borgia,
Lucrezia della Rovere and Marcantonio Colonna that provided the
town with
a statute in 1515. Later on Frascati passed in the hands of the
Farnese family: in 1538 Pope Paul III Farnese gave to the town
the name of Tusculum Novum. Paul III entrusted Antonio
da Sangallo the Young with the task of definining
the urbanistic features of the town so divided into three different
districts: St. Maria,
St. Flavia and St. Peter. In 1559 (year of the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis)
began a glorious period for the town: the noble Roman families
(Aldobrandini, Lancellotti, Falconieri, Mondragone, Parisi, Dumb,
Grazioli, Torlonia) elected Frascati for the construction of their
country residences, places of delight, in which they lived set
apart from common people and town daily activities. separation
confirmed by the architecture of these villas that offer to the
city an austere flat façade and reserving to the inner façade
the sight of majestic and fancy decorations. In 1558 the new cathedral
of Saint Peter was built in the area that was designated as new
center of the town, marking the development that the area had had
as a result of the setting of the villas towards the hills and
the peripheral position of the ancient Saint Maria in Vivario.
Since then the city urban setting did not change so much; in1856
was laid the first section of the railroad in the Papal state linking
Rome to Frascati (project completed by Pius IX but planned by his
predecessor Gregory XVI who loved these sites). At the time of
its construction the station was someway distant, separeted from
the
inhabited center and a popular saying asserted that "the Rome-Frascati
train did not leave from Rome and it did not arrive in Frascati" because
both stations were far away from the town. The distance between
the towns was covered in 28 minutes at a speed of 40 km/hour. With
the advent of the railroad, Romans had the chance to go to Frascati
and return in a single day after generous lunches accompanied by
famous wine whose local production goes back to the Roman time.
The last train that brought the Romans back home was called "tropéa
train" that in Roman dialect means drunk train. The Roman
custom of weekend journeys to the Roman castles is still alive
as an unconscious historical rope that links strongly together
the vicissitudes of Rome to the ones of these places. After the
Unification of Italy the city walls were destroyed and it was erected
a massive wall that supports the walkway dedicated to Queen Margherita.
In 1941 settles Frascati the German High supreme command in the
Mediterranean; the 8th of September 1943 the town was bombed with
hundreds of victims and destruction of a large section of the city,
liberated on 3rd of June 1944. In the Aldobrandini stables has
been recently opened the Museum Tuscolano that exhibits important
archaeological ruins of the territory. (06- 9417195). Famous is
also the Carnival of Frascati that is celebrated
with allegorical charriots and that finishes with the fire of a
Pulcinella. Among
the typical products, beyond its wine that can be tasted in the
numerous "fraschette", renowned are the Pupazze, pastry
cakes with honey having the shape of woman with three breasts,
with reference to ancient rituals of fertility.
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