The Castello di Lunghezza ("Lunghezza Castle") is a medieval fortification situated roughly east of

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. It lies in Municipio VIII of Rome, and sits on the site of the ancient town of

Collatia Collatia was an ancient town of central Italy, c. 15 km northeast of Rome by the ''Via Collatina''. It appears in the legendary history of Rome as captured by King Tarquinius Priscus. Vergil speaks of it as a Latin colony of Alba Long ...

History

It was constructed in the year 761 AD and was ruled over by the Poli Family for several generations. In the 13th century, the Polis fell out of favor with

Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII (; born Benedetto Caetani; – 11 October 1303) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 until his death in 1303. The Caetani, Caetani family was of baronial origin with connections t ...

when they gave all the lands around the castle to a local monastery. After some dispute, the papacy gained control of the land and it was bestowed upon the Orsinis, a family of Roman nobles. Throughout the early 20th century, it changed hands in various English families a number of times. In the 1950s, the castle was purchased by British curator

Malcolm Munthe Major Malcolm Grane Ludovic Martin Munthe MC (30 January 1910 – 24 November 1995) was a British soldier, writer, and curator, and son of the Swedish doctor and writer Axel Munthe and his English second wife Hilda Pennington-Mellor. Early ...

, who sought to restore it and open it to the public.

References

761 establishments Lunghezza Populated places established in the 8th century 8th-century fortifications {{italy-castle-stub