"The Castle of the Anguillara family ".

"The “Frustica” Festival".

"The castles and the ruins".

The town of Faleria rests upon a tuff rock spur, surrounded by the deep ravines carved by the Treja and Mola rivers. In the past, the town was known at first as Stabulum, and then as Stabbia, due to its strategic position along the main roads leading to Rome.

The town grew increasingly important throughout the Middle Ages, as here stood the Paterno Castle, the ultimate stronghold safeguarding the Pope. It was in this very castle that Ottone III, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, finally met his death.

At a later date Faleria became the residence of the Anguillara family, which undertook the construction of the castle, making of this town a great Renaissance fortification.

The town is enclosed by uncontaminated nature, in a territory which, despite its small dimensions, conserves a considerable number of both churches and castles.

The town of Faleria is located in the south of the Agro Falisco, so come here and discover all there is to see!

Faleria, in times past known as Stabbia, is a small medieval town, which lies between the two ancient consular roads of Flaminia and Cassia. In keeping with Faliscan traditions, the town stands on the far end of a tuff rock ridge, enclosed on each side by two valleys. These are both crossed by the rivers Treja and Mola, which at the time were of great avail in the defence of the territory. 

This small town is well known by those passionate about medieval history, as it was here that Ottone III of Saxony, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, plunged to his death.

In the year 1002, the emperor had travelled to the Castle of Paterno, situated along the borders with the town of Civita Castellana, a great building of which all that is left today are the defensive walls. According to a Roman legend, it was in this very castle that the man was poisoned by a lover of his, a woman named Stefania. The remains of Ottone III are today conserved in Aechen, close by those of Charlemagne. 

Two great buildings overlook the old town centre of Faleria: the Castle of the Anguillara family, and the Church of Saint Julian the Hospitaller.

This church is well-known as it conserves a beautiful fresco, depicting the patron saint of the town, and offering a clear image of what the medieval hamlet looked like back in its origins. Other buildings are also represented here, for instance Castel Sant’Angelo, before the structural alterations later commissioned by Pope Giulio II, or some among the greatest monuments of Rome: the Colosseum, the Fori Imperiali, the Basilica of Saint Paul, the Pantheon, and both the Aurelian Column and Walls. All these elements make of this fresco a unique document, allowing one to form a mental image of Rome’s layout during the 16^th century.

The town’s main square, namely piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, overlooks a beautiful and picturesque view of the Agro Falisco countryside. From here one can admire the ravines crossed by the Treja river and the lush vegetation surrounding the town centre. 

According to folk stories, the English poet Lord Byron once stayed in this small medieval town, and from here, as he admired the beauty of Mount Soratte, of which the ancient Roman poet Orazio had already sung the praises, he wrote a short poem.

A street of this small town-centre was named after Giuseppe Rosi, one of the celebrated thousand lead by Garibaldi, who originally hailed from Faleria.

Who would have thought that a legendary figure such as Ottone III had died in the small town of Faleria? The Agro Falisco is a district rich in legends and traditions!