If you are a tour operator and would like to meet the operators in the area, click on the following links:

• Download the list here to learn about the activities of DMO Castelli Romani members (database in English: coming soon!).
• Download the Castelli Romani destination guides here.

Please feel free to contact us for more information. You can find our contact details and office hours below:

• E-mail: info@visitcastelliromani.it / istituzioni@visticastelliromani.it
• Phone number: (+39) 06 93956065 (internal number 19)
• Monday – Friday: 9:00 – 13:00
  Saturday and Sunday: Closed.

Get in touch!

In this page, you can find several recommendations on how to get here. Another suggestion is to use Google Maps (especially if you have to reach certain areas by car); for routes by bus and train it gives you an overall idea on what to take.

BY PLANE

Transport buses and trains to and from Ciampino

Fiumicino Airport: take the train to Termini station and then take the train to Ciampino. From Ciampino, depending on your destination, you can take trains to go to Frascati, to Albano Laziale with stops at Pantanella or Sassone (Marino-Ciampino), Castel Gandolfo, Villetta (Albano Laziale) and Albano Laziale – to Velletri stop Casabianca (Marino-Ciampino), to Naples (with stops at Pomezia Santa Palomba (Albano Laziale), to Campoleone (Lanuvio), to Cisterna di Latina (Velletri), to Frosinone (regional with stops in Rome, Tor Vergata (Frascati), Colle Mattia (Frascati) , Colonna Galleria, to Colleferro-Segni-Paliano with stops in Rome, Tor Vergata (Frascati), Colle Mattia (Frascati), Colonna Galleria.

BY “METRO” (subway) 

Line A – to Anagnina, then the COTRAL Bus has links with Rome, Velletri (stops: Marino, Albano Laziale, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma – Nemi, Lanuvio, Lariano), Rocca Priora (stops: Frascati – Colonna, Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri), Rocca di Papa (stops in Grottaferrata).

From Termini station you will find more Cotral buses.

BY TRAIN

From Termini station, take the train to Ciampino – Frascati, or to Albano Laziale with stops at Pantanella or Sassone (Marino – Ciampino), Castel Gandolfo, Villetta (Albano Laziale) and Albano Laziale (last stop), or to Velletri that also stops at Casabianca (Marino-Ciampino), to Naples (with stops at Pomezia Santa Palomba (Albano Laziale), to Campoleone (Lanuvio), to Cisterna di Latina (Velletri), to Frosinone (regional train with stops in Rome, Tor Vergata (Frascati), Colle Mattia (Frascati), Colonna Galleria), to Colleferro, Paliano with stops in Ciampino Tor Vergata, (Frascati), Colle Mattia (Frascati), Colonna Galleria

From Naples (regional) direction Roma Termini with stops in Cisterna di Latina (Velletri), Campoleone (Lanuvio), Pomezia Santa Palomba (Albano Laziale)

From Frosinone, with regional stops, Colonna Galleria, Colle Mattia (Frascati), Tor Vergata (Frascati), in Ciampino

BY TRAIN + SHUTTLE SERVICE

You can purchase a single ticket that includes the train journey + a shuttle service. When buying the ticket, pick one of the following locations as your destination:

Monte Porzio Catone (from Frascati train Station)
Monte Porzio Catone (from Colle Mattia train Station, Frascati)
Marino Laziale Centro (from Marino train Station) 
Nemi (from San Gennaro train Station, Genzano di Roma)
Velletri Centro (from Velletri train Station)
Rocca di Papa (from Frascati train Station)
Castel Gandolfo Ville Pontificie (from Castel Gandolfo train Station)
Grottaferrata (from Frascati train Station)
Ciampino Airlink (from Ciampino train Station towards Ciampino G.B. Pastine Airport) 

BY BUS

COTRAL Bus links with Rome, Velletri (stops Marino, Albano Laziale, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma – Nemi, Lanuvio, Lariano), Rocca Priora (stops at Frascati-Colonna, Monte Porzio Catone, Monte Compatri) Rocca di Papa (stop in Grottaferrata)

INTER-VILLAGES PUBLIC TRANSPORT LINES

SCHIAFFINI (Ciampino Castel Gandolfo, Nemi, Frascati, Frascati, Marino, Rocca di Papa, Velletri)

ONORATI (Albano Laziale, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio) – Go to: Servizi – TPL – Lazio and then you can choose between Albano, Ariccia, and so on.

CORSI E PAMPANELLI (Monte Compatri)

CALABRESI (Monte Porzio Catone)

TAXI H24 CASTELLI ROMANI

Phone 069410800

NCC Castelli Romani — Riccardo Giovanetti – mobile +39 342 7818040

BY CAR

From the A1 Roma-Napoli motorway (exits: Monte Porzio Catone, San Cesareo, Valmontone)

From Tuscolana to Roma Centro – road SS215 (Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri, Colonna, Rocca Priora)

road SS7 via Appia (Ciampino, Marino (S.M. delle Mole), Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio, Velletri, Lariano)

SS6 Casilina (Frascati, Colonna, Montecompatri)

From Via Aurelia, Via Cassia, Via Flaminia, Rome-Florence motorway get to the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare) and take Exit Via Tuscolana SS215 (Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri, Colonna, Rocca Priora) – SS7 Via Appia (Ciampino, Marino (S. M. delle Mole), Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio, Velletri, Lariano)

From the West Coast (Mar Tirreno) – Fiumicino motorway – Rome towards GRA Roma – South exit Via Tuscolana SS215 (Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri, Colonna, Rocca Priora)-SS7 Via Appia (Ciampino, Marino (S. M. delle Mole), Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio, Velletri, Lariano)-SS6 Casilina (Frascati, Colonna, Montecompatri)

From Civitavecchia (port)-Highway Roma Civitavecchia Rome towards GRA – South exit Via Tuscolana SS215 (Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri, Colonna, Rocca Priora)-SS7 Via Appia (Ciampino, Marino (S. M. delle Mole), Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio, Velletri, Lariano)-SS6 Casilina (Frascati, Colonna, Montecompatri)

From Pomezia -Via dei Castelli Romani to Albano Laziale

Anzio -Nettuno – Via Nettunense until Lanuvio, Genzano di Roma, Ariccia, Albano Laziale

From Gaeta, Sperlonga, Sabaudia, Circeo-SS7 Via Appia or Via SS148 Pontina

From the East Coast (Mare Adriatico): motorway Roma – L’aquila A24 reaching the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare) and take Exit Via Tuscolana SS215 (Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri, Colonna, Rocca Priora)

SS7 via Appia (Ciampino, Marino (S.M. delle Mole), Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio, Velletri, Lariano)

CAR RENTAL

Fiumicino and Ciampino Airport (all the most popular rental agencies)

Genzano di Roma Company Aurol

Genzano di Roma A.Corvi Mobility

Frascati Automotorsfrascati

BY SHIP

Port of Civitavecchia from Naples, Barcelona (ES), Tunisia, Sicily, Sardinia. Then Civitavecchia – Roma motorway, take Exit:

Via Tuscolana SS215 (Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone, Montecompatri, Colonna, Rocca Priora)

SS7 via Appia (Ciampino, Marino (s. m. of the grinding wheels), Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio, Velletri, Lariano).

Or train Civitavecchia – Roma Termini train to Ciampino to Frascati, Albano Laziale with stops at Pantanella or Sassone (Marino – Ciampino) to Velletri stop Casabianca (Marino – Ciampino), Naples (with stops at Pomezia Santa Palomba (Albano Laziale), Campoleone (Lanuvio), Cisterna di Latina (Velletri), Frosinone (regional with stops in Rome, Tor Vergata (Frascati), Colle Mattia (Frascati), Colonna Galleria, Colleferro – Segni – Paliano with stops in Ciampino Tor Vergata, (Frascati), Colle Mattia (Frascati), Colonna Galleria.

ON FOOT or BY BIKE

Via Francigena from Brindisi (Puglia) in Rome.

Castelli Romani is one of the most appreciated tourist destinations in Lazio region, for the many renowned food and wine specialities, for its history and for the spectacular landscapes, most of which is part of the Regional Park.

Close to Rome, you have the chance to relax, unwind, and live an unforgettable experience away from the chaos of the city, while immersed in one of the most extraordinary territory the Lazio region has to offer. The natural splendour and the lovely climate make the Castelli Romani a favourite destination for those who want to experience a more authentic type of holiday. You can find out more on our website!

(For the tourist guides, please check the list below)

Tourist Guides

Choose among the following tourist guides for your guided tours!

The first signs of human life on the territory of the Alban Hills date back to the Lower Palaeolithic Period (300.000 – 200.000 years ago). Flint tools (stone chopper tools as well as the “amigdale”, a double sided hand axe) were discovered in the area.

However, the first populations to permanently settle in the area of the Castelli Romani were the Latins, Indo-European populations that had settled in the Ancient Latium (The Latium Vetus of Pliny the Elder which extended south of the Tiber up to Mount Circeo) since the year 2000 BC.

Four centuries before the foundation of Rome, the Latins had already established their towns here – Alba Longa, Tusculum, Ariccia, Lanuvio and Velletri to name only the most important – which were firmly allied in a confederation, the Lega Latina (Latin League).

The heart of the religious and political life of the confederation was found on what is named today “Monte Cavo”, the ancient Mons Albanus where the sacred Temple of Jupiter (Juppiter Latiaris) had been built and where the Feriae Latinae were celebrated every year. During the celebrations, the representatives of the League met again, and reinforced reciprocal bonds of membership and alliance.

For centuries, the Latins were against Rome, and many battles were fought by the Romans to dominate them. In spite of the destruction of their capital city Albalonga in the 7th century BC (by command of Tullus Hostilius and attributed by tradition to the victory of the Horatii and Curiatii), the Latin League was eventually defeated – and therefore dissolved – only three centuries later in the year 338 BC. From this time onwards, the Castelli Romani were under the Roman rule. In the year 193 AD, Septimius Severus ordered the construction of the Castra Albana (the Roman camps from where the town of Albano originated) for the Second Parthian Legion, who had the role of the emperor’s bodyguards.

Important people from ancient Rome preferred the Alban Hills and chose this area to build their residence. For example, to name a few, the Emperor Domitian had a vast estate, which entirely surrounded the Lake Albano, while Caligola kept his two luxurious “floating villas” anchored in Lake Nemi.

The barbaric invasions that horrified the Italic peninsula, and that brought about the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, also brought about the phenomenon of the so-called “incastellamento” in the Alban Hills. Here, the populations took refuge in the hills to shelter from the barbaric invasions. Several noble families built their fortresses here and, throughout the centuries, small villages developed and later became the Castelli Romani.

As of the 10th century, the rise of the powerful Counts of Tusculum, already established in the ancient town of Tusculum, began. It was a member of this family that donated the estate to Saint Nilus in 1004 on which the monks founded the Abbey of Grottaferrata.

Even after the fall of the Empire, the town that once was caput mundi did not cease to dominate the Alban Hills. During the following centuries in fact, they were taken over by the Church of Rome, which gradually became the owner of all the properties in the area.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the territory of the Castelli Romani became a scene of perpetual battles of power, led by the most important Roman feudatory families, many of which belonged to the clergy.

In 1167, the imperial troops of Frederick Barbarossa defeated the military force of Pope Alessandro III in the battle of Prata Porci, below Monteporzio Catone; afterwards, with the withdrawal of the imperial army, Rome decided to eliminate the towns of Albanum and Tusculum, which in the above mentioned events had lined up with the Emperor in disdain of the Church of Rome.

In 1379, a year after the beginning of the Western Schism, the army of Breton and Gascon mercenaries, under paid command of antipope Clement VII, challenged the troops of Pope Urban VI in the famous battle of Marino, where the Pontifical troops claimed a crucial victory.

In 1433, the Roman Barons rebelled against Pope Eugenio IV causing a three-year war during which many towns of the Castelli Romani were involved. It concluded in 1436 when the Pope’s army commanded by Cardinal Vitelleschi destroyed Albano Laziale.

In 1501 Marino, fiefdom of the powerful Colonna family was also razed to the ground in the war against Pope Alessandro VI.

Eventually, in 1527 when the Landsknechts ransacked Rome, the Castelli Romani were also robbed and destroyed, in particular Marino and Velletri. In this devastating situation, Frascati was saved from slaughter by a miraculous blessing that the devoted population attributes to the Virgin Mary.

From halfway through the 16th century to the end of the 18th century the Castelli Romani enjoyed a flourishing period of peace and stability. During these two centuries, the aristocratic Roman families competed in building, enhancing and rebuilding their luxurious country residences and the elegant parks and gardens, as well as improving the territory of the Castelli Romani area with important and valuable infrastructures and urban features.The most important examples, first of all, are the well known Villas of Tusculum situated among Frascati, Monteporzio Catone and Grottaferrata as well as Ariccia (the important Bernini complex in Piazza Repubblica with the Palazzo Chigi and the Chiesa dell’Assunta), the Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo, the Sforza-Cesarini Palace at Genzano, the Colonna Palace at Marino and the Ferrajoil Palace at Albano, etc.

Peace ended in the Castelli Romani in the second half of the 18th century, when the War of the Austrian Succession broke out. It particularly involved Velletri where the Hispanic-Neapolitan troops of King Charles of Borbone challenged the Austrians in 1744 and won a historical victory that allowed the Kingdom of the two Sicily to survive.

About 50 years later, the Italian Campaigns of the French Revolutionary War led by Napoleon drove the French occupation as far as Rome, turning the towns of the Castelli Romani upside down and taking away territory and power from the Holy See. After the long period of the Restoration, in 1870 the Pontifical State became part of the Kingdom of Italy and likewise the territory of the Castelli Romani.

Important development and improvement of road and railway infrastructures had already started in 1856 under the rule of Pope Pio IX with the inauguration of the two railway lines Rome-Frascati and Rome-Velletri. Later lines followed between Rome-Grottaferrata, Frascati-Grottaferrata-Genzano, Grottaferrata-Rocca di Papa.

This helped to make the Castelli Romani become a favourite spot for the well-known Roman out-of-town trips as well as their summer holidays. Then, during the Second World War bombings almost all the towns of the Castelli Romani were bombed and destroyed.

Today, the Castelli Romani have once again become one of the most appreciated tourist spots in Lazio, both for the well-known typical wine & food and for the pleasant landscapes which have been well maintained thanks to the Regional Natural Park of the Castelli Romani.

From a geographical point of view, the territory commonly known as the “Castelli Romani” corresponds to the volcanic complex of the Colli Albani (Alban Hills), located a few kilometres southeast of Rome. From a geological point of view, the Alban Hills are what remains of the ancient Latium Volcano, formed throughout a very long period between 630.000 and 20.000 years ago with a process that can be substantially divided into the following three parts:

• Initially, an intense volcanic eruption formed an imposing volcanic cone with a base of 60 kilometres in diameter; the upper border of this enormous volcanic crater collapsed at a later stage, creating the wide caldera, of which only the north eastern edge (Monte Tuscolo and Monte Artemisio) remains today;

• After a long interval, the eruption began again and formed a smaller cone inside the caldera, of which the central part is known today as “Campi di Annibale”, while a further two secondary cones gave rise to the existing Monte Cavo and Colle Iano;

• The last stage (known as the hydromagmatic phase due to the violent explosions caused by the contact of underground waters with residual pockets of incandescent magma) formed along the south-eastern border of the original crater several other craters, which later became volcanic lakes; only two of these are conserved today (Lake Nemi and Lake Albano) while others have been dried out and are now valleys dedicated to agriculture (Prato Porci, Pantano Secco, Valle Marciana, Laghetto, Vallericcia).

The altitude range of the territory of the Alban Hills varies from 47 mamsl (in the town of Montecompatri) to 956 mamsl (Maschio delle Faete in the town of Rocca di Papa) with the majority of the towns at hill level between 300 and 700 mamsl.

Since the 17th century, the natural type of forests dominating the territory of the Alban Hills, according to altitude, were:

The Holm Oak Wood, typical of the Mediterranean vegetation region that reaches as far as 200-300 mamsl;

The Mixed Downy Oak Woods, typical of the sub-Mediterranean vegetation region that reaches 400-500 mamsl;

The Mixed Broadleaf Wood, (Oak, Lime, Maple) typical vegetation of the foothill region that reaches 700-800 mamsl;

The Beech wood, typical of the mountain vegetation region, above 800 mamsl;

The extensive chestnut woods that actually cover the complex of the Alban Hills are not a native vegetation of the area but the result of constant human activities in the area that have enormously increased in the last three centuries since the first settlements.

Human interference had gradually substituted the above-mentioned natural woods with profit-making cultivations:

Vineyards and Olive Groves, in regions up to 400-500 mamsl that substitute the holm oak and the mixed down oak woods;

Chestnut Woods, cultivated by coppicing, in higher altitude regions, replacing the mixed woods of oak, lime and maple trees and beech wood.