Frascati, nei Castelli Romani, tra ville antiche e vino DOC

The presence in the territory of these prestigious residences appoints Frascati as the “city of villas” and recalls its noble past: Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, nephew of Pope Clement VII, commissioned the construction of this imposing residence;  Prince Wilhelm II of Germany lived with his wife in Villa Falconieri;  the Borghese, Ludovisi, Colonna, Conti and Cesarini Sforza families succeeded each other in Villa Torlonia, until the sale in 1841 to the namesake family; Paolina Bonaparte lived for many years in Villa Parisi, now owned by the namesake family; King Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy lived as a guest at Villa Lancellotti, property of Pietro Piccolomini, until the purchase in 1866 by Prince Filippo Massimo Lancellotti; Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy spent long periods in Villa Tuscolana; Villa Sora, originally the property of the Dukes of Sora, hosted Pope Gregory XIII and Cardinal Carlo Borromeo in 1582.
The gardens of the villas and the embrace of Mount Tuscolo that surrounds the city immerse Frascati in greenery. Next to Piazza Roma, the Park of Villa Torlonia extends, which became public in 1954, where the splendid Upper Fountain and the Water Theater by Carlo Maderno, an architect of Ticino origins and author of the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, are still preserved.
But the presence of works and monuments is not limited inside the villas. Moving to the city center, we find the splendid façade of the Cathedral of St. Peter, made in Baroque style in the 1700s by Gerolamo Fontana, as well as the fountain that completes the view of the square, the lively center of city life.
Outside the city center, at the intersection of Via Tuscolana and Via Gregoriana, is the sanctuary of Maria Santissima del Capocroce, consecrated in 1612 in thanks for the narrowly avoided incursion of the Landsknechts, who, arriving near the city of Frascati in 1527, changed direction near this intersection, where there was a votive shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The Belvedere, finally, an open terrace with a suggestive panoramic view of the city of Rome, suitably completes our visit. Behind it, a row of “fraschette,” typical local taverns of the Frascati tradition, invite you to enter and enjoy the flavors of the city: first courses of Roman cuisine, cold cuts, cheeses and DOC wine of Frascati, a local product that had among its first admirers Marco Porzio Catone, called The Censor, himself originally from a family of Tuscolo winemakers.
Among the typical sweets, the pupazza frascatana, a large biscuit depicting a prosperous female figure with three breasts in memory of the wet nurses to whom the women of Frascati entrusted their children for work in the fields, of whom it is said they used a fake breast filled with wine to calm the little ones.