Alban Hills Attractions Colli Albani
In the past many Roman noble families and Popes built castles in these hills, and the region is therefore also known as the Castelli Romani ("Roman Castles"). Today Roman citizens have made their homes here, attracted by purer air and quieter surroundings of an area which lies considerably higher than Rome. These volcanic hills rise to a height of 949m/3,114ft in Monte Cavo. The craters of the volcanoes have formed two lakes, the Lago Di Albano (Alban Lake) and the Lago di Nemi (Lake Nemi). Around the old castles a series of little towns have grown up, including Frascati, Grottaferrata, the picturesque Marino, Castle Gandolfo, Albano, Ariccia, Genzano, Nemi, with its small ship museum, and Rocca di Papa, surrounded by beautiful woodland on the edge of a crater known as Campo di Annibale.
Grottaferrata, Italy
(Near Rome)
No tour of the Castelli Romani area would be complete without a visit to the old abbey of the Basilians (an order of the Greek Catholic Church) at Grottaferrata, described by Pope Leo XIII at the end of the 19th century as "a jewel from the East in the Papal tiara". The abbey, situated at an altitude of 329m/1,080ft, is not only a venerable old religious house with some notable works of art but an example of Renaissance defensive architecture.
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