Guidonia Montecelio (), commonly known as Guidonia, is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Metropolitan City of Rome Capital Metropolitan City of Rome Capital ( it, Città metropolitana di Roma Capitale) is an area of local government at the level of metropolitan city in the Lazio region of the Republic of Italy. It comprises the territory of the city of Rome and 120 ...

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, central Italy.

Geography

The municipality of Guidonia Montecelio, formed by the main towns of Guidonia and Montecelio, lies to the north-east 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 ...

, some kilometres from the

Grande Raccordo Anulare The GRA or Grande Raccordo Anulare (literally, "Great Ring Junction") is a toll-free, ring-shaped long orbital motorway that encircles Rome. GRA is one of the most important roads in Rome, and traffic reaches 160,000 vehicles per day as of 20 ...

- a ring-shaped motorway which forms a circle around the capital. The terrain of Guidonia Montecelio is mainly flat, and the community lies in between the

Via Nomentana Via Nomentana is an ancient road of Italy, leading North-East from Rome to Nomentum (modern Mentana), a distance of . It originally bore the name "Via Ficulensis", from the old Latin village of Ficulea, about from Rome. It was subsequently exte ...

and the

Via Tiburtina Via Tiburtina is an ancient road in Italy leading east-northeast from Rome to Tivoli (Latin, Tibur) and then, with the via Valeria, on to Pescara (Latin, Aternum). Historical road It was probably built by the Roman censor Marcus Valerius Maxi ...

. It borders with

Fonte Nuova Fonte Nuova is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Lazio, located about northeast of Rome. The ''comune'' was created in 2001 from the ''frazioni'' of Tor Lupara di Mentana and Santa Lucia di Mentan ...

, Marcellina,

Palombara Sabina Palombara Sabina ( Romanesco: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy. Main sights * Savelli- Torlonia Castle, built from the 11th century by the Ottaviani, a branch of the Crescentii family of Rome. Antipope Innocent ...

, San Polo dei Cavalieri, Sant'Angelo Romano and Tivoli. The hamlets ('' frazioni'') are Albuccione, Bivio di Guidonia, Colle Fiorito, Colleverde, La Botte, Marco Simone, Montecelio, Pichini, Setteville, Setteville Nord, Villalba and Villanova.

History

Montecelio was founded in 998 as a fortified ''

castrum In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...

'' (''Castrum Monticellorum''). In 1915 the ''

Regio Esercito The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfr ...

'' (Italian Royal Army) built a major military airport in the area for its ''Corpo Aeronautico Militare'' (Military Aviation Corps), the predecessor of the Italian Royal Air Force founded in 1923. Guidonia was erected as a ''

'' in 1937 by Benito Mussolini, its name chosen to honour the ''Regia Aeronautica''

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Alessandro Guidoni (1880–1928), who had died on 27 April 1928 while testing a new parachute at the air force facilities.

Economy

Today the town is part of the

Rome metropolitan area The Rome metropolitan area is a statistical area that is centred on the city of Rome, Italy. It consists of the entire province of Metropolitan City of Rome Capital (formerly known as the Province of Rome) and a single commune, Aprilia, in the n ...

, with a massive presence of industry (mainly travertine caves and

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

industry) and the service sector. The number of residents commuting to

is high, with transport in a critical situation. Guidonia is also home to

Marco Simone Golf and Country Club Marco Simone Golf and Country Club (also known as Golf Marco Simone) is a golf course in Guidonia, Rome, Italy. It is 10 miles from the city centre of Rome and has 2 golf courses, an 18-hole Championship Course and a 9-hole Resort Course. In 2015 ...

, which was announced as the host of the

2022 Ryder Cup The 44th Ryder Cup Matches will be held in Italy in autumn 2023 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio near Rome. The biennial event was originally scheduled from 30 September to 2 October 2022, before the 43rd matches were ...

in June 2015, but with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

postponing the 2020 Ryder Cup to 2021, subsequent matches were pushed back a year with Marco Simone now hosting the event in 2023.

People

* David Di Michele - Football pl payer * Mikeshowsha - Italian Youtuber

International relations

Guidonia Montecelio is twinned with: * Kawasaki, Japan * Cape Canaveral, United States. * Kashira, Russia

References

External links

Local portalNews & Info from Guidonia Montecelio

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Lazio Italian fascist architecture