We first stopped by Monte Porzio Catone. This little old town was surprisingly alive. There was a market on market street. A crowd of old people gathered in a small square. I think the active “new” town just outside the “old” town walls might be helping keep it alive. Or it could be the other way around. Naturally we saw all of the expected landmarks, like the church and clock tower. There also seemed to be a local cat gang.
We stopped next at Parco Archeologico Culturale di Tuscolo / Archeological Culture Park of Tuscolo. Besides being a beautiful park, it was full of Ancient Roman ruins. Unlike the ruins in the center, that are somewhat closed off, these were open for anyone to look around as you pleased.
Next we went to Grottaferrata where there is the Abbazia di San Nilo / Abbey of St Nilo, Chiesa di Santa Maria / Church of St Mary, founded in 1004. After walking around the ancient castle-like abbey for a while we had lunch outside at a porchetta and panini place.
After lunch we went to Castel Gondolfo, the Pope's summer vacation house. Besides this lovely palace the city had lots of Italian flags in anticipation of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Interesting, 150 years ago, it was from the Pope that this city (and the rest of the providence of Rome) was liberated.
As one last stop at the end of our day we quickly visited the city of Frascati. This place was bigger, busier, and more of a “city” than any of the other towns or “ancient cities” we had visited. We saw the standard sights, church, square, view of Rome. What I actually found most interesting about this place was the landscaping. One of the first things I saw entering the city was a row of square trees. Their leaves had been pruned with exact edges to form what looked like a perfect hedge lifted up by tree trunks. Also the main Villa used a similar technique to form a enclosed walkway to their palace.
All pictures from this day:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20110315CastelliRomani#
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