The name of Rocca Priora derives from the medieval name of “Perjura”.
According to the Sublacense Chronicle, in fact, at the end of the 11th century a small inhabited nucleus, the Castrum Arcis Perjuriae, stood on the top of the hill.
Rocca Priora is the highest municipality of the Castelli Romani with its 768 meters of altitude. The frequent snowfalls were used for commercial purposes, the town strategically overlooked the Via Latina and the view was lost as far as the sea and for centuries it founded its economy on the snow trade.
Imposing is the Savelli Castle that dominates the whole town from above.
The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Neve recalls and still testifies the close relationship that the town has always had with this particular climatic characteristic.
Rocca Priora is the highest municipality in the Castelli Romani, at an altitude of 768 meters. Many historians believe that the site of the ancient Latin town of Corbium, which Coriolanus occupied during his march on Rome (486 BC), is located where Rocca Priora now stands. In the third century, after the city disappeared, a Roman villa was built there.
At the entrance to the town of Albano Laziale, in the municipal villa (formerly Doria), the remains of another large stately villa traditionally attributed to Pompey the Great are preserved.
On the opposite side of the Appian Way, the remains of a large tower tomb, also attributed to Pompey, can be seen.
The present-day town of Albano Laziale was built on the remains of the camp (castra Albana) of the II legio Parthica, stationed in Albanum by Septimius Severus as a reserve force directly under the emperor’s command, composed of loyal non-Italian soldiers.
