Gallicano nel Lazio has 5,749 inhabitants on a tufa ridge naturally defended by two wide, deep ditches, one on each side. The castle is named for the first time in 984, in a deed by which two princes give the church of San Benedetto to the inhabitants of the Castrum Gallicani; the Benedictines of Subiaco fortified the ridge, and from the early thirteenth century the Colonna held the place for almost four centuries, using it as a bridge towards Rome and dragging it into every quarrel they had with the popes. In 1526, during one of those quarrels, the castle was destroyed; the inhabitants rebuilt it, and prince Alessandro Colonna gave them statutes that are still kept in the Vatican Archive. The family arms still stand over the northern gate of the village.
The best thing that happened here, though, has nothing to do with the barons. In 1726, at the invitation of princess Vittoria Altieri Pallavicini, Lucia Filippini, who would later be made a saint, opened at Gallicano a free public school for girls. The same princess and her husband paid, a few years later, for the complete rebuilding of the church of Sant'Andrea. And there is finally a detail of pure linguistic bureaucracy: the words "nel Lazio" were added to the name only in 1872, so as not to confuse the village with the Gallicano in the province of Lucca.
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📅 Every year, on 30 November
Gallicano nel Lazio celebrates Saint Andrew the Apostle on 30 November; the other patron, the Nativity of Mary, is celebrated from 8 to 10 September.
📅 Every year, from 8 to 10 September, with the 16th-century wooden crucifix carried in procession
Gallicano nel Lazio celebrates the Nativity of Mary from 8 to 10 September; the other patron, Saint Andrew the Apostle, is celebrated on 30 November. The Oratory of the Confraternity of the Crucifix keeps a valuable 16th-century wooden crucifix.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Gallicano nel Lazio, but an easy day trip away.
