Top 4 Castles around Montelibretti

Frasso Sabino is a village in the Sabina reatina with origins at least from the early Middle Ages, closely linked to the Abbey of Farfa. Its first known documentary attestation dates back to 955, in the Regestum Farfense, where it appears as “locus ubi dicitur ad Frassum”. In 1055, Alberto, son of Gibbone, donated the castle of Frasso to the abbot of Farfa, Berardo I, confirming the importance of the center in the territorial system of the abbey. Already in 1118, however, Frasso was no longer under the jurisdiction of Farfa, nor is it mentioned in 1198 among the assets confirmed to the abbey by Pope Innocent III. Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the fief passed to the Brancaleoni, and then in 1441 entered the possessions of the Cesarini through the marriage between Orso Cesarini and Simodea Brancaleoni. After various disputes with the Savelli, the Cesarini definitively consolidated their dominion in 1573 and retained possession of the place until 1817. Even the name of the town has debated origins: according to one tradition, it derives from the once abundant ash trees, while other hypotheses connect it to fraxum as a guard post or to the position “among the stones” near the springs of the Farfa. In summary, the history of Frasso Sabino is that of a small Sabine castle born in the orbit of Farfa, then transformed into a lordly fief and remaining for centuries an important outpost of the territory.

A lovely little place. If you're nearby, it's worth a stop.

The first inhabited center of Stazzano Vecchio was probably built on the remains of a Roman settlement. The term "Stazzano", in fact, could derive from the Latin statio, with the dual meaning of "place of a garrison", or "Post Station". Even today the origins of Stazzano are not clear but it seems certain that a town developed around a castle, built between the 10th and 11th centuries by the Savelli family, a powerful family that influenced the historical events of this part of Lazio. The castle and the town passed into the hands of the Borghese family between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Access to the town consisted of a single door that opened between the outermost tower of the castle and the Church of Santa Maria, a distinguishable sign that Stazzano had been conceived as a "village-castle". A terrible seismic event which occurred on 24 April 1901, with its epicenter in nearby Montelibretti and calculated at the VIII degree of the Mercalli Scale, put an end to the peaceful peasant life. From that moment on, the village of Stazzano was inevitably abandoned and the ruins of the houses were used to build the new town a short distance away. https://www.lazionascosto.it/citta-fantasma-borghi-abbandonati-del-lazio/stazzano-vecchio/

Beautiful village above the Tiber

Excellent place for a quiet break before leaving again

The Orsini di Fiano Romano ducal castle was built between 1489 and 1493 on commission of Niccolò III Orsini, count of Pitigliano, Sovana and Nola. The Castle took on the name of Castello ducale only in the seventeenth century, when the fief of Fiano passed from the Orsini family to Caterina de 'Nobili. It was in fact the son of Caterina de 'Nobili, Cardinal Francesco Sforza, who after receiving the fiefdom as a gift from his mother in 1606 had Fiano built as a duchy with a bull of Pope Paul V of 18 July 1608.

Italian Castle in a small town

The structure dates back to the thirteenth century, with a quadrangular plan, is characterized by two imposing towers in a panoramic position over the Tiber valley. It can be reached via a single road that winds its way through the town, a feature that makes it original among the castles of Lazio. Belonging to the brotherhood of the monks of S. Paolo with continuity since the 16th century, today the castle belongs to the CESMIL company (Centro Studi Medievale Lazio).