Marino

History

Since Prehistoric times, the territory of Marino was occupied by tribe settlements around the lakes and Alban Hills, as witnessed by the ruins discovered there. In fact, Marino has the largest number of tombstones in the whole area belonging to the period between the year 730 and 640 BC. During the Roman period, Marino was known as "Castrimoenium", where the viaduct started that assured part of the water supply to Rome.

During the years the town became surrounded by large villas belonging to Latin aristocrats such as the Gens Valeria, Claudio Mamurra and Quinto Voconio Pollione.

During medieval times, Marino was ruled first by the Counts of Tusculum and then by the Frangipane and Orsini. The latter family suffered a long siege by the troops of Cola di Rienzo in 1349.

Thirty years after, at the beginning of the Western Schism (1378-1417), the battle of Marino was fought between Pope Urban IV and the antipope Clement VII, which ended in favour of the Pope’s mercenaries, led by Captain Alberico da Barbiano.

Later, the territory was occupied by the Caetani – excommunicated by Pope Boniface IX in 1399 – who sold Marino to the Colonna family in 1419. The noble family enriched the town with new monuments, yet it was often used as a military base and destroyed many times. In 1501, Alexander VI had the town destroyed to punish the Colonna for their alliance with Spain.

In 1571, Marino, under the command of Marcantonio Colonna, victoriously took part in the battle of Lepanto, remembered today by the 17th century Fontana dei Mori at the entrance of the town.

An epidemic drastically reduced the population in 1585, but it was later strengthened by the arrival of numerous peasants from Abruzzo. In the 18th century, the rearrangement of the Via Appia directed traffic towards Naples via the Albano and Ariccia roads, reducing Marino’s importance.

In 1835, Gregory XVI granted Marino the title of city, and during the ultimate years of the 19th century a railway station was introduced, served by the lines Ciampino-Rome and Rome-Albano.

During the Second World War, Marino endured great damages and many monuments like the Colonna Palace and the Basilica of St. Barnaba were destroyed, not to mention more than 10% of homes razed to the ground.