City & Region

The Alban Hills

The Alban Hills are the remains of an ancient volcano, the Vulcano Laziale. Its outer rim forms a caldera about 10 km across, and its highest point, Maschio delle Faete, reaches 956 m. Lake Albano and Lake Nemi were formed by powerful explosions that occurred when rising magma met groundwater. The towns of the hills are known together as the Castelli Romani. Since 1984 much of the area has been protected as the Castelli Romani Regional Park, about 15,000 hectares across 16 municipalities.

Tusculum and the town

On the hill above Frascati lie the remains of ancient Tusculum, a rival of Rome that was destroyed in 1191. The archaeological park, shared by Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone and Monte Compatri, includes a theatre from the first half of the 1st century BC, the forum area, walls and a medieval fortress. Many finds from Tusculum are shown in the Museo Tuscolano, housed in the former stables of Villa Aldobrandini.

The wine

Frascati also gives its name to a white wine. The Frascati DOC was approved in 1966. Its grapes come from the whole of Frascati, Grottaferrata and Monte Porzio Catone and from parts of Rome and Monte Compatri; at least 70% must be Malvasia (bianca di Candia and/or del Lazio), with Bellone, Bombino bianco, Greco bianco and Trebbiano making up the rest.

The villas

The villas of Frascati are known as the Tusculan villas (Ville Tuscolane); the Museo Tuscolano displays wooden models of ten of them. Villa Mondragone, in neighbouring Monte Porzio Catone, has a place in the history of science: there Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the bull Inter gravissimas, which started the reform that gave us the Gregorian calendar. Since 1981 the villa has belonged to the University of Rome Tor Vergata, which uses it as an event and congress centre.

A science neighbourhood

Within a few kilometres of the town centre are the INFN National Laboratories, ESA's Earth observation centre ESRIN and an ENEA research centre where Italy's DTT fusion facility is being built. Towards Rome, the Tor Vergata area brings together the University of Rome Tor Vergata, the headquarters of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), a site of the National Research Council (CNR) and INAF's Institute of Space Astrophysics and Planetology. Uphill, the Rome Astronomical Observatory works from Monte Porzio Catone, and across the lakes the Vatican Observatory has been based in Castel Gandolfo since 1935.

The town's name is also attached to a piece of statistical history: in June 1963 OECD experts met in Frascati to agree the first guidelines on R&D statistics, which became the Frascati Manual. See Institutes & Facilities and the Frascati Family.