Tolfa is a town and '' comune'' of the

Metropolitan City of Rome 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 o ...

, in the Lazio region of central Italy; it lies to the ENE of Civitavecchia by road. It is the main center in the Monti della Tolfa, an extinct volcanic group between Civitavecchia and the

Lake of Bracciano Lake Bracciano ( it, Lago di Bracciano) is a lake of volcanic origin in the Italian region of Lazio, northwest of Rome. It is the second largest lake in the region (second only to Lake Bolsena) and one of the major lakes of Italy. It has a circu ...

History

A town of medieval origin in the orbit of Viterbo, it was assumed into the Papal States and granted first to the Capocci family, and then to the Roman nobles Ludovico and Pietro Frangipani who walled the community. Tolfa achieved sudden importance following the discovery there in 1461 of large deposits of

alunite Alunite is a hydroxylated aluminium potassium sulfate mineral, formula K Al3( S O4)2(O H)6. It was first observed in the 15th century at Tolfa, near Rome, where it was mined for the manufacture of alum. First called ''aluminilite'' by J.C. Del ...

, the source of

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , where is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium or a ...

, with the result that direct control was assumed, after some confrontations with the Frangipani, by the Camera Apostolica. Alum was an essential mordant in the textile industry, which was central to the Late Medieval and Early Modern Italian economy. Previously, the only supplies of alum were imported from the East, from sources controlled by the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

, through

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, which profited greatly. Suddenly, the monopoly of alum shifted to the Papacy, which controlled Tolfa; Pope Pius II placed its distribution solely in the hands of the Medici, with the explicit thought that the income from this monopoly should be devoted to the Christian '' res publica'' as the infidel Turk, elated by his victories, threatened to devour Christendom. Later, the monopoly in extraction of alum at Tolfa passed as a papal gift to Agostino Chigi. In 1530, Pope Clement VII granted the status of '' comune'' to Tolfa, which had outgrown its medieval walls. In later times, Tolfa continued to be supported by the extraction of alum. Near the mine, the workmen's village of

Allumiere Allumiere (Romanesco dialect, Romanesco: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italy, Italian region Latium, located about northwest of Rome. Allumiere is traditionally divided into the ''contrada, contrade'' of ...

was built; it became an autonomous ''comune'' in 1826.

Main sights

*Remains of the walls and of the Frangipani castle (''Rocca di Tolfa''), destroyed by the French troops in 1799 after the city had rebelled against the Roman Republic. *Town Hall, housing a collection of Etruscan and Roman antiquities discovered nearby. *Church of Sant'Egidio Abate *Convent of the Augustinians (early 16th century), now housing the communal library and civic museum. *Convent of the Capuchin Order (1621). *Castle Rota

Film locations

*In the TV series, Medici: Masters of Florence, Castle Rota is both Francesco Sforza's army camp and the village where Lorenzo finds the mercenary Ferzetti.

Twin towns

* Dingle, Ireland * Għajnsielem, Malta * Salobreña, Spain * Slovenske Konjice, Slovenia

Notes

External links

Archeological sites
{{authority control Cities and towns in Lazio Hilltowns in Lazio Castles in Italy