Vermicino is a village and civil parish (''

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ( municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate terri ...

'') of the Italian municipality of

Frascati Frascati () is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated wit ...

, in the

Province of Rome The Province of Rome ( it, Provincia di Roma) was one of the five provinces that formed part of the region of Lazio in Italy. It was established in 1870 and disestablished in 2014. It was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. ...

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. In

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...

its name means "''little

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''", in an unused form.

Geography

Located near Ciampino (4 km away) and

Morena Morena is the headquarter city of Morena district, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is governed by a municipality corporation. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Chambal division. It is from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. ...

(2 km away), close to the south-eastern suburb of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

; Vermicino, as ''frazione'' of Frascati, is part of the

Castelli Romani The so-called Roman Castles (''Castelli Romani'' in Italian) are a group of ''comunes'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome. They are located a short distance south-east of the city of Rome, at the feet of the Alban Hills, in the territory correspo ...

. A minor part of its territory, a strip in the central area, belongs to the municipality of Rome as part of the Zone XVII " Torre Gaia". In the north of the village there is a locality, mainly composed by some scattered houses, named Selvotta, considered part of Vermicino. The main road crossing Vermicino is the historical one of '' Tuscolana'', linking Rome (20 km away) and Frascati (2.5 km away). Other main roads are ''Via di Vermicino'' (in which is located Selvotta) and ''Via di Passolombardo'', that links the village to the motorway's exit of " Roma Torrenova", on the "South Rome Branch" of the A1. The village is also 4.5 km away from Rome Ciampino Airport, 5 from

Grottaferrata Grottaferrata () is a small town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, south east of Rome. It has grown up around the Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, founded in 1004. Nearby com ...

and circa 3 from the Roman suburban villages of Borghesiana and Finocchio. The nearest railway stations are Tor Vergata (near Frascati), Ciampino, and

History

Origins

Vermicino owes its name to an event that took place in 1183, when the troops of Archbishop Cristiano of Mainz came to the rescue of the Counts of Tusculum, besieged by the Romans. The archbishop's troops died after drinking the water from the source poisoned by the besiegers, according to this version "vermicina" would therefore be poisonous.

Overview

In the middle of the original village there is a

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were or ...

, built in 1731 by the order of the

Pope Clement XII Pope Clement XII ( la, Clemens XII; it, Clemente XII; 7 April 16526 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740. Clement presided over the ...

and designed by Luigi Vanvitelli. From the 1970s Vermicino grew as part of the urban expansion in southern Roman surroundings.

Alfredo Rampi's incident

On June 10, 1981 a 6 years old child,

Alfredo Rampi Alfredo Rampi, nicknamed Alfredino (little Alfredo) (April 11, 1975 – June 13, 1981), was an Italian child who died after falling into a well in Vermicino, a village near Frascati, on 10 June 1981. The incident Around 19:00 on 10 June 1 ...

, fell into an

artesian well An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within t ...

located in a rural field in Selvotta, and died on June 13. Originally a local item of news, the attempted rescue became a national media event from June 12, due to an 18-hours-long

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broadcast by the main TV channels of

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terr ...

, unified for the event. The broadcast had attracted millions of Italian people to follow the events, and also Vermicino was crowd by a multitude of people. Also the

Italian President The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian po ...

of that period,

Sandro Pertini Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician who served as the president of Italy from 1978 to 1985. Early life Born in Stella ( Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landow ...

, came to Vermicino. The media emphasis to that event connected, in Italy, the name of the semi-unknown ''Vermicino'' to the tragedy of Rampi's family."Vermicino, i tre giorni che sconvolsero l'Italia"
article on the ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of ...

References

External links

Vermicino page on a "Castelli Romani" website

Municipal website of Frascati
{{authority control Frazioni of the Province of Rome Castelli Romani