At 768 metres Rocca Priora is the highest comune of the Castelli Romani, and the coldest too: about five degrees less than Rome, with a long winter and snow that can lie on the ground for days. Many historians recognise here the site of the ancient Latin town of Corbium, which Coriolanus occupied on his march against Rome; after the town vanished, in the third century, a Roman villa settled there. The name comes from the medieval Perjura: according to the Sublacense Chronicle, at the end of the eleventh century there was a small settlement on the hilltop, the Castrum Arcis Perjuriae, which Agapito of the counts of Tusculum is said to have given to his daughter. After the destruction of Tusculum, in 1191, the castle passed to the Annibaldi, and here, as at Monte Porzio Catone and Monte Compatri, the refugees from Tusculum found shelter. In 1252 it appears as tenimentum Rocce Perjurie in a division of property between the Colonna brothers, and by 1269 it is already written Rocca Priora. How populated it was is told by salt: in the lists of the lands subject to Rome for the tax, the castle consumed ten rubbie of salt a half-year, like Frascati and Monte Compatri.
From 1382 the castle belonged to the Savelli, who held it throughout the sixteenth century save for two interruptions: in 1436, during cardinal Vitelleschi's war against the Roman barons, the papal militias seized it and gave it in vicariate to the condottiero Simonetto di Castel Piero, and pope Alexander the Sixth destined it for his son Giovanni Borgia, but on the pope's death, in 1503, the Savelli took it back. Then came financial ruin: on 3 December 1596 their goods were taken over by the Apostolic Chamber, which the following year put the fief up for lease to the highest bidder. From then on came a succession of chamber tenants, all interested in the resources the rock offered: timber and the trade in snow. The earthquake of 1703 and the very hard winters of those years — the best known is that of 1709 — emptied the town, and to repopulate it the Apostolic Chamber began granting land to anyone who moved up here, which brought a notable arrival of people from various parts of Italy. In 1806 Rocca Priora was sold in part to Lucien Bonaparte and in part to the Rospigliosi, who kept it until 1870, when it became a comune.
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📅 Every year, on 20 January; Saint Roch, the more deeply felt patron, is celebrated on 16 August instead
Rocca Priora celebrates Saint Sebastian on 20 January; the other patron, Saint Roch, more deeply felt, is celebrated on 16 August. In January, the feast of Saint Anthony Abbot is also held, with the blessing of animals that parade on wooden allegorical carts.
📅 Every year, on 16 August, deeply felt; Saint Blaise is also remembered for freeing the town from the plague
Rocca Priora celebrates Saint Roch on 16 August: it is the town's most deeply felt patronal feast. In August, the feast of the Madonna della Neve is also held, whose sanctuary has been venerated since at least the late 16th century. Saint Blaise is also remembered, who according to tradition freed Rocca Priora from the plague.
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 Rocca Priora, but an easy day trip away.
