Frascati is a town and commune in the province of Rome in the Latium region of central Italy. It is located 20 km south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum.

History

The most important archeological finding, dating back to Ancient Roman time, during the late Republican Age, is a patrician Roman villa probably belonging to Lucius Licinius Lucullus. In the first century BCE the owner was Caio Passieno Crispo, who married Agrippina the Younger, mother of Nero. Later his properties were confiscated by the Flavian imperial dynasty (69 - 96 CE). Consul Flavius Clemens lived in the villa with his wife Domitilla during the rule of Domitian.

According to the Liber Pontificalis, in the 9th century Frascati was a little village, probably founded two centuries earlier. The name of the city probably comes from a typical local tradition of collecting firewood ("frasche" in Italian): many place-names around the town refer to trees or wood. After the destruction of Tusculum in 1191, the town population increased and the bishopric moved out from Tusculum to Frascati. Pope Innocent III endorsed the city as a feudal possession of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, but in the following centuries its territories was ravaged by frequent raids that impoverished it. It was a possession of various baronal families, including the Colonna, until, in 1460, Pope Pius II fortified the place with walls.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century Pope Julius II gave Frascati as a feudal possession to the condottiero Marcantonio Colonna senior (Rome 1478, Milan 1522) nephew of Prospero, son of Pietro Antonio prince of Salerno, who lived there from 1508 together with his wife Lucrezia della Rovere, nephew of Pope. In 1515 Marcantonio Colonna gave to Frascati the "Statuti e Capituli del Castello di Frascati", it was the first city statute with the rules and regulations to observe.

In 1518 a Hospital was built, named after St. Sebastiano, in memory of the old basilica destroyed in the 9th century. After Prince Colonna's death in 1522 Lucrezia della Rovere sold Frascati to Pier Luigi Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III.

On May 1, 1527 a Landsknecht company, after having sacked Rome, arrived out of the bordering villages. However, the soldiers changed direction of march next to a niche consecrated to the Virgin Mary, and the town was therefore safe. This event is commemorated by a church now called Capocroce.

In 1538, the Pope-King Paul III conferred the title of "Civitas" to Frascati, with the name "TUSCULUM NOVUM". In 1598 construction began of a new cathedral dedicated to St. Peter.

In 1656 (18th June) a part of plaster peeled off the wall inside the Church of St. Mary in Vivario and an ancient fresco became visible, it was the image of Saints Sebastian and Roch protector from the plague. In that year there was an epidemic of plague in Rome (anno dirae luis) but Frascati was safe, from that year the two Saints were co-patron Saints of the city. The statues of these Saints are in the facade of the Cathedral.

In 1757 the Valle theater opened in the centre of the town. And in 1761 the fortress changed to a princely palace under the patronage of the Cardinal Henry Stuart duke of York.

In 1809 Frascati was annexed to the French Empire, and selected as capital of the Roman canton.

In autumn 1837, there was a plague epidemic in Rome, and 5,000 people left Rome. Frascati was the only city that opened its doors to them. Since then Frascati's flag has been the same as Rome's, yellow and red.

In 1856 the city was chosen as the terminus of the first railway to be built by the Papal State. The last section of the railway line was inaugurated in 1884, 14 years after the city became part of the new Kingdom of Italy. On December 17, 1901 the first electricity reached Frascati from a hydroelectric plant in Tivoli.

In 1943, during World War II, Frascati was heavily bombed (Frascati bombing raid September 8, 1943). About 50% of buildings, many of the monuments, villas and houses were destroyed, and many people died. The city was liberated from the German occupation on June 4, 1944 by U.S. 85th Infantry Division.

Main sights

Villas

Frascati is famous for its notable villas, built by the Popes, cardinals and Roman nobles as "status symbols" of Roman aristocracy.

These are:

• Villa Aldobrandini
• Villa Parisi
• Villa Falconieri
• Villa Grazioli
• Villa Lancellotti
• Villa Muti
• Villa Rufinella (or Tuscolana)
• Villa Sora
• Villa Torlonia
• Villa Vecchia
• Villa Mondragone
• Villa Sciarra

Other edifices

• The Cathedral (Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter Apostle) has a high façade from 1698-1700 (Architect Gerolamo Fontana), while the interior is from the 16th century, the project was committed to Ottaviano Nonni called the Mascherino. The interior of the cathedral, demolished by the bombing in 1943, appears bare. On the inner side of the facade the sepulchral stone of Charles Edward Stuart.
• The Church of the Gesù (16th/17th centuries) has, one the façade, niches with statues attributed to Pietro da Cortona. The interior has an illusionistic false dome and architectural works by Andrea Pozzo.
• The Bishop's Palace, the old "Rocca" ("Castle"), is a massive construction with two square and one rounded towers. It is flanked by the small church of Santa Maria in Vivario, with a campanile (1305) characterized by three orders of three-mullioned windows

Museums

• Civic archaeological museum at the Scuderie Aldobrandini ("Aldobrandini Stables"). It diplays archaelogical finds coming from the ancient Tusculum and the nearby area. The scale models of the Tuscolane Villas are worth mentioning.
• Ethiopian Museum of Cardinal Guglielmo Massaia (1809-1889), a missionary who was buried here, in the Capuccini's friary, a "villa monastery" with a church dedicated to St. Francesco. This houses in its interior noteoworthy works by Guilio Romano and Pomarancio.

Twin towns

• - Bad Godesberg, Germany
• - Saint-Cloud, France
• - Kortrijk, Belgium
• - Windsor and Maidenhead, United Kingdom.

Miscellaneous

• Earth Observation missions of the European Space Agency are based in Frascati, at the major high energy physics laboratory called Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati.
• The area gave its name to Frascati, the popular white wine from this region.
• Frascati also gave its name to the home of the Irish Patriot Frescati House.
• The OECD's Frascati Manual, a methodology for research and development statistics, originated in a meeting at the Villa Falconieri in June 1963.

Famous citizens and residents

Frascati was the birthplace of:

• Felice Ferri (1828-1889) politician
• Ludovico Micara (1837-1844) Cardinal Bishop
• Maffeo Pantaleoni (1857-1924) economist and politician
• Domenico Valenzani (1874-1931) politician
• Arnaldo Mecozzi (1876-1932) painter
• Clemente Micara (1879-1965) Cardinal Bishop
• Pietro Campilli (1891-1974) politician: deputy of Parliament and Minister
• Pietro Micara (1912-1975) politician and senator
• Don Giuseppe Buttarelli (1918-1968) priest, civil-hero
• Mario Titi (1921-1982) landscape painter
• Luciano Vicari (1932-2000) musician, violoncello-master
• Elena Beccarini Crescenzi, poet
• Augusto Panizza, musician, in 1890 founded the Philarmonic Tuscolan Academy, the Communal Music Band
• Tino Buazzelli (1922-1980) actor
• Germano Alfonsi (1926-2006) sculptor and painter, the Italian modern-day Michelangelo.

Other famous residents and visitors include:

• Henry Benedict Stuart, the younger brother of Charles Edward Stuart (that "Bonnie Prince Charlie" who tried with no success, to reconquer the English throne in 1746), became Cardinal Bishop of Frascati in 1761. He became Dean of the College of Cardinals in 1803, but continued to live in the episcopal palace of Frascati until his death on 13 July 1807. He improved the town cultural life by founding the Seminary and library.On the inner side of the Cathedral facade he built the sepulchral stone of his brother (Monument to the Royal Stuarts).
• Goethe visited the Tuscolo country between 1786 to 1788, staying in Frascati. He recounted his impressions on his journal, the travel book of a long journey all over Italy (Italian Journey). An important street in the centre of Frascati was named after Goethe.
• The German writer Richard Voss spent 25 years of his life in the city, writing a lot of his novels and plays there. He received the honorary citizenship of Frascati.
• Andrea Pozzo painter and architect, painted in fresco in "Church of the Gesù" the false dome, a masterpiece of optical illusion.
• Taddeo Kuntze (1730-1793), Polish painter.
• King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia (1751-1819) from 1802 lived in Villa Lancellotti.
• Princess Pauline Bonaparte, favourite sister of Napoleon I of France and wife of Prince Camillo Borghese, lived in Villa Parisi from 1806 to 1811. At the same time her mother and brother, Lucien Bonaparte, lived in Villa Rufinella from 1804 to 1820.
• The famous writer George Sand passed part of her Italian years in Frascati from 1855 to 1858, here she was inspired to write some of her novels.
• Queen Maria Cristina of Bourbon, wife of Charles Felix of Sardinia, lived in Villa Rufinella from 1821.
• Clara Louisa Wells, English writer.
• Biagio Budelacci (1888; 1973); Bishop of Frascati, silver medal for civic valour of Italian Republic.
• Italo Alighiero Chiusano (1926-1995) poet and writer.

External links

• Official site

Castelli Romani | cathedrals in Italy

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