Ferdinand Gregorovius' Walks - Paliano

Gregorovius rides with a servant from Genazzano to Paliano and Anagni. Paliano is visible from Genazzano and Gregorovius enjoys the ride in the countryside. On the hills on the left side he sees other little towns: Olevano, Bellegra and Serrone.
Paliano gives the name to the main branch of the Colonna family Colonna di Paliano or at least to the branch with more interests in the Papal State as other branches had most of their fiefs in the Kingdom of Naples.

Serrone (left) and Paliano (right)
View of Paliano

Paliano is dominated by the fortress and the palace of the Colonna. Gregorovius enters Paliano from Porta Romana: the coat of arms of Paliano is the coat of arms of the Colonna as you can see in the image I used as a background for this page: the streets are named after the Colonna and you obviously find a Taverna Colonna.

Porta Romana and coat of arms of the Colonna family

The Colonna palace was modified by Antonio del Grande in the second half of the XVIIth century. The Colonna di Paliano did not hesitate to fight against the pope. In particular they fought for Paliano against Paulus IV in 1556: it was a veritable war called Guerra di Campagna and the Colonna were supported by Spain. The nephew of Paulus IV, Don Giovanni Carafa, became for a few years the Duke of Paliano. His beautiful wife, Dona Violante di Cardona, was the Duchesse de Paliano celebrated in a short novel by Stendhal. At the death of Paulus IV, Marcantonio Colonna regained all his possessions. He regarded himself almost as a sovereign: when Pius V in 1571 launched an appeal to the catholic nations to form a coalition to fight against the Turks, he responded in such a massive way to be among the commanders of the fleet which defeated the Turkish navy at Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth. Thus, the street leading to the palace is Via Lepanto and the entrance to the palace is embellished with naval references.

Palazzo Colonna
The fame acquired by Marcantonio Colonna is celebrated in the family palace in Rome, but the expenses incurred by Marcantonio were so high that in order to pay the debt his heirs had to sell many properties to the Borghese, the Barberini and the Pamphily. The church of Sant'Andrea has a chapel built in the XVIIth century where the Colonna are buried, but the lack of money did not allow for any expensive decoration.

Sant' Andrea and the inner court of Palazzo Colonna

The fortress was sold to the Papal State in the XIXth century and became (and still is) a prison.

The fortress of Paliano

After visiting the palace, Gregorovius and his servant move on towards Anagni.

Next page

Introductory page on Ferdinand Gregorovius
Palestrina
Genazzano
Anagni

Other walks:

The Ernici Mountains:
Ferentino
Alatri

The Volsci Mountains:
Valmontone
Segni
Norma
Cori

On the Latin shores:
Anzio
Nettuno and Torre Astura

Circe's Cape:
Terracina
San Felice

The Orsini Castle in Bracciano

Subiaco, the oldest Benedictine monastery


See my Home Page on Baroque Rome or my Home Page on Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth century traveller.