Castello di Porcareccia

The castle of Porcareccia is a small cluster of houses dating back to the late sixteenth century, located in Rome in the Casalotti area. The ancient castle, built on a rocky spur and which in the past had a lookout tower now disappeared, takes its name from "porcaritia", a place for raising pigs and wild boars. The presence of a castle in this locality has been known since 1002 (from a plaque preserved in the church of Santa Lucia della Tinta), the year in which the Porcareccia estate was entrusted to the monks of Monte Brianzo, in the Ponte district. An act by Pope Celestine III from 1192 refers to the entrustment of the agricultural land to the canons of via delle Botteghe Oscure. Finally, with a third act by Pope Innocent III (early 13th century), the possession passed to the Hospitaller Order of Santo Spirito. When Porcareccia became the property of the Order of Santo Spirito, the breeding of pigs was intensified, which were used for the poor and sick cared for by the Order. An ordinance by Pope Urban V from 1362 granted freedom of pasture to animals and imposed severe penalties on those who impeded their passage, anticipated by the sound of bells hung on the animals' ears; this law was reiterated by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481. From the 16th century onwards, the castle passed into the hands of private families, the Massimo, the Borghese, the Salviati, the Lancellotti. It was the Order that restructured the ancient farmhouse and transformed it into a castle: inside it, in 1693, they built the church of Santa Maria. Since 1932, what remains of the castle has been owned by the Giovenale family.

Municipality Rome XIX (19) Monte Mario, on comune.roma.it.