What to See in Monterotondo: Attractions & Sights

More places of interest

Palazzo Orsini Il

Palazzo Orsini stands on piazza Angelo Frammartino, in Monterotondo, and has been the town hall since 1890. It is first recorded in a document of 1286 on the division of the property of Matteo Rosso Orsini; in the fifteenth century the family split into the branches of Jacopo and Lorenzo, who lived in the northern and southern parts of the fortress. In 1626 the fief passed to the Barberini, who through major works brought the existing buildings together into a single edifice; in 1699 it was sold to Marquis Francesco Grillo and in 1814 to the Boncompagni-Ludovisi.
What to see
Two entrances lead to the Great Courtyard, where the tall tower rises, emblem of the palace and the town: the octagonal columns bear the Orsini arms on the north side and the Barberini bee on the south. In the Courtyard of the Well is a sixteenth-century marble wellhead, carved in Rome, carried up the Tiber and reassembled here. On the main floor the door lintels bear the name of Carlo Barberini, Duke of Eretum.
Also on the main floor are the frescoed rooms: the Room of the Landscapes, with a gilded coffered ceiling and pastoral scenes attributed to the school of Paul Bril; the Room of Venus and Adonis, painted by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta; the Room with Hunting Scenes, with frescoes by Paul Bril of 1581 and others attributed to Taddeo and Federico Zuccari; and the Gallery, with the Allegory of Dawn on the vault. In the Barberini chapel is a Holy Family attributed to Perin del Vaga.
Visiting
The palace houses the municipal offices: the Sala Regia is the council chamber, the Gallery the mayor's office. After the damage of the 1915 earthquake it was restored to a design by Gustavo Giovannoni. Visits and times should be checked with the municipality.
Our editors' tip
In the Room with Hunting Scenes look for Paul Bril's signature beneath the view of Monterotondo: it is a monogram in the shape of a pair of spectacles, a reminder that the painter was helped by his brother Matthijs.
Duomo Santa Maria Maddalena

The basilica of Santa Maria Maddalena is the Duomo of Monterotondo, in the suburbicarian diocese of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto. The interior has a single nave on a Latin-cross plan, with three chapels on each side linked by arched passages cut through the dividing walls. In the Baroque period the church was restored by the Del Grillo, feudal lords of Monterotondo.
What to see
The high altar is made from a Roman strigilated sarcophagus in white marble, brought from an ancient site in the nearby countryside; behind it is the wooden choir. In the first chapel on the right is a marble Pietà by an unknown artist, and in the others, besides the minor altars and oil paintings, there are tomb slabs on the floor and walls. On the entrance wall, above the three doors, is the organ.
Outside, on via San Pio da Pietrelcina, stands a bronze statue of the saint; on this street there was once the Porta Canonica, an old gateway to the historic centre. On the square in front of the Duomo, towards via Oberdan, is the «Pincetto», a wall with a fountain built in the early twentieth century to overcome the difference in level between the oldest part of the town, higher up, and the seventeenth-century Barberini expansion: the name comes from its resemblance to a miniature Pincio.
Visiting
Mass times and opening hours should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
Look at the columns dividing the chapels: among the ornaments are crickets, the mark left by the Del Grillo when they had the church restored.
Museo Archeologico Territoriale

The Museo archeologico territoriale of Monterotondo was founded in May 2003. It gathers finds from archaeological investigations in the area around the town and, to a large extent, material recovered by the carabinieri, police and finance police during checks on illegal digs in the area: the ancient centres concerned are Crustumerium, Eretum, Nomentum and Fidenae.
What to see
The route is divided into four rooms. There are ceramics from Crustumerium, Etruscan-style bucchero ware of various origins and heads in marble or travertine from Eretum and Nomentum. Three tombs have been reconstructed with the skeletons, or fragments of skeletons, found at Nomentum, and a model shows a pre-Roman hut from Fidenae.
Part of the material comes from the ancient road between Nomentum and Eretum, inside the Macchia di Gattaceca nature reserve: the remains of several Roman funerary buildings, dated between the first century BC and the third century AD.
Visiting
The museum began in Palazzo Paolo Angelani, on piazza Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale; other sources now place it in the rooms of the main floor of Palazzo Orsini, where a move had been planned. Location, opening times and admission should therefore be checked with the municipality before visiting.
Our editors' tip
In front of the remains of the tombs from the Nomentum-Eretum road, remember how they were laid out: lined up along the sides of the road, following an ancient custom that displayed the different social standing of the dead.