History of Palestrina

Within the territory of the ancient "Latium" (etymologically "vast plain"), the area, ie, between the Tiber River to the north, Lepini Mountains south, the sea to the west and the pre-Apennines mountains to the east, Palestrina, the Latin name of which was "Praeneste", occupies a position of considerable strategic importance from top of the mountain; surrounded by powerful walls, the city could control the valley of the  Sacco River, a nodal point for communications between Etruria and Campania, a region where the Etruscans had some rich settlements. The inhabitants of "Praeneste" bring in, throughout their history, this location in the best way, as evidenced by the monuments and the valuable archaeological finds in the city and surrounding territory. The ancient myths attribute the founding of the city to different characters.

The origins of "Praeneste" were sometimes traced to “Prainestos”, son of King Latinus and nephew of Ulysses; to Telegonus, son of the same Ulysses and Circe, or even to “Caeculus”, son of Vulcan. The archaeological survey has allowed hypothesizing the existence of a proto-historic village, the exact location of which is still uncertain, perhaps it was structured in communities scattered in several villages, according to a widespread system in Latium. With regard to the etymology, the scholar who best set the problem was, in the nineteenth century, A. Nibby, who observed that in the classical writers we read three etymologies of its ancient name; Plutarch (46-127 AD) and Servius (later four-century) derived it from the Greek word “prìnoi” (oaks), for the abundance of these trees. Festus (later 2nd century AD) said, however, that "Praeneste" was so named because it was "before" or "leaning against the mountains" (quia ..... montibus 'praestet'), that "lies ahead (Prae-stet) to the mountains. Finally,  Solinus (middle of the fourth century AD) and Henri Estienne, called “Stephanus” (1528-1598) did deriving the name from “Prainestos”, or  “Preneste”, son of King Latinus, son of Ulysses and Circe. He also adds that Strabo (64-25 BC) considered "Praeneste" a Greek city, as it was once called, in Greek, "Polustefanos", meaning "city with many crowns" (see A. Nibby, “Analisi Storica, Topografica e Antiquaria della Carta dei Dintorni di Roma” , Vol. II, Rome, Tipografia delle Belle Arti, 1837, pp. 475-476).

Today, the present proposals about the etymology of the name or “Praeneste”  are emblematic of the term "Prenesteo", "high place", where is situated the city, or they  refer to the Greek word "Prìnos", indicating the oak or holm. In the seventh century BC “Praeneste” starts exploiting the centrality of cities in the trading system of its time, as evidenced by its rich furnishings of the graves, the precious objects of which show contacts and exchanges with all the peoples of the Mediterranean, in particular with the Etruscans. Between the seventh and sixth century BC until the mid-fifth century BC, “Praeneste” had reports particularly intense with the Italic world, especially with the peoples of the hinterland and the Apennine, as demonstrated both by the findings   of certain characteristic ornaments of women, and  typical armament of the warrior, as some armor bronze, imported from these areas.

“Praeneste” undertaken frequent struggles with Rome as early as 380 B.; Cincinnatus (519-438 BC) conquered it, but other riots that followed brought the first city to ally with the Gauls in 358 BC against the Romans; but, in 338, it was subdued by Rome. The history of Palestrina during the imperial period is less known, but judging both from the inscriptions and the remains of buildings, we can reconstruct a situation of discreet prosperity although not comparable with the splendours of the Republican age. In the Augustan Age monuments and archaeological finds indicate, however, some recovery and a moderate prosperity of the city.

Emperor Tiberius (42 BC-37 AD) possessed a palace here, and he gave the city the status of “municipium”. The sources for the history of the city are limited in the Middle Ages; we know that it, with the donation of Sutri in 728, came part of the Roman duchy, and, in 752, for a time it was occupied by the Lombards of Astolfo (died in 756 AD). The modern name "Palestrina" appears, for the first time, in a code of  Farfa Abbey dating back to 873. About a century later, the whole "Civitas Praenestina" was given by Pope Giovanni XIII (died in 970) to Stefania, wife of Alberic II of Tusculum (905-954) and then, by inheritance, it passed in 1043, to  the Colonna. So, it was that Palestrina came to take part in the struggles of this family against the papacy. Gregory VII (1028 ca.-1085), in fact, challenged the legality of the passage of the city to the Colonna family, provoking the reaction of Pietro Colonna (1460-1540) that supported an anti-pope, being within a real schismatic church. Palestrina was still in possession of the Colonna when they opposed the election of Pope Boniface VIII (1230-1303), who in 1297 proclaimed a crusade against the city, which was seized and destroyed.

The city will return to Stefano Colonna (died in 1378) in 1337, and as a fief of the Colonna, it participated in fighting "Ghibellines" against the papacy, with the so-called "third destruction" in 1437, by Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi (died in 1440) after escape of Lorenzo Colonna (15th century). The Colonna will recover their property about ten years later, and they remain masters of the city until the seventeenth century, despite the temporary occupation by Borgia (1503) and Duke of Alba (1507-1592) (1553). In 1630 Francesco Colonna (1433-1527) gave to 775,000 crowns, the feud to Carlo Barberini (17th century), brother of Pope Urban VIII (1568-1644).

The Barberini were authors of the urban arrangement that gave the city its current appearance, as well as the reconstruction of the baronial palace (in 1640), already built by the Colonna in the upper zone of the ancient sanctuary of Fortuna. The eighteenth century saw a strong development of agricultural land and, simultaneously, several steps of troops: German (1701, 1711), Spanish (1734, 1736), Neapolitan (1799) and French (1802). In the next century Palestrina followed the events of Rome and it became part of the Kingdom of Italy with the unification.