HOTEL BELLAVISTA - CASTELLI ROMANI

Monte Porzio Catone - Wine Museum

Located in the historical downtown Monte Porzio Catone is the Wine Museum (Via Vittorio Emanuele). The museum, inaugurated in 1999, has been placed purposedly in Monte Porzio Catone that still nowadays runs a very flourishing wine business. The explanation of all the processes behind wine production, so far as the bottling of wine, makes this a very interesting place to visit.

Along the itinerary, that has been conceived inside the ancient wine cellars, where once winemaking was done, you can browse all the instruments used by the farmers of different ages, and you can enjoy the the tasting room where you can try samples of the typical red and white wines. In another hall you can find every information related to the ancient traditions of Monte Porzio Catone: vintage prints, art objects, ancient photographs, and more.

For more information:
The Wine Museum is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to visitors, 9 A.M. - 1 P.M. and 3 P.M. - 7 P.M.
For groups, booking at municipal offices (tel. +39 06.94.28.331 - +39 06.94.28.333), will be possible visit to other days of the week.
Entrance fee €2,00 (for gruops - Entrance fee and guided tour €3,00.
Entrance fee for groups (more than 10 people) € 1,00 - Entrance fee and guided tour for groups (more than 10 people) €2,00
Phone: +39 06.94.34.10.27
E-mail: info@museodiffuso.it

Monte Porzio Catone - Barco Borghese

On the road from Frascati to Monte Porzio Catone, you can visit the medieval site of the Barco Borghese.

For more information
Address: Via Frascati, 62
E-mail: musei@comune.monteporziocatone.rm.it

Monte Porzio Catone: Astronomical Observatory

If you happen to be in the Castelli Romani area from Wednesday to Saturday, don’t forget to visit the Astronomical Observatory of Monte Porzio Catone, located 2 km outside downtown. The Astronomical Observatory has been built upon above the ruins of an ancient, Roman Villa dating back up to the first century A.C. Here you can enjoy many experiences, such as to turn the moon around the earth and observe the lunar phases, to evolve a star and to expand the universe.

For more information and bookings:
Phone: +39 06.94.28.64.20
Every Tuesday and Thursday guided tours.

Grottaferrata - St. Nilo Abbey

The Greek Abbey of St. Nilo, located in downtown Grottaferrata (just a few kilometers far away from Frascati), was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman villa (probably belonging to the famous speaker and historian Cicerone), where you can still enjoy the criptoportico, a semi-subterranean gallery whose vaulting supports portico structures aboveground and which is lit from openings at the tops of its arches.
A very interesting site in the Abbey is the library, specifically the laboratory of restoration of books and manuscripts. Here, the monks once restored the “Codice Atlantico” of Leonardo Da Vinci and the books of the National Library of Florence, seriously damaged during the catastrophic Florence flood of 1966.
If you are planning for a somewhat longer stay, you can’t miss a suggestive ceremony: the catholic marriage celebrated under the ancient greek Byzantine rite.

Ariccia - Palazzo Chigi

Leaving Grottaferrata and following Via dei Laghi, you reach Ariccia, where you can visit Palazzo Chigi. The urban plant, designed by the great architect Gianlorenzo Bernini (the one who designed and built the Vatican) jointly with his young student Carlo Fontana, refers to the shape of an ancient Roman theatre with the front stage represented by Palazzo Chigi. With an extension of up to four thousand square meters, Palazzo Chigi also hosts many interesting cultural events, such as a library with a dedicated section on Baroque art, as much as thirty exhibition halls and 1368 works of art from various donations.

Curiosity
The sumptuous halls (painted by great artists such as Baciccio and Salvator Rosa), was the location of one of the most beautiful ball scenes (the one between Angelica, played by Claudia Cardinale, and Prince Tancredi, played by Alain Delon), of the movie "The Leopard" by Luchino Visconti, drawn from the famous novel by Giuseppe Tomasi Lampedusa.