“The Castle of Marcigliana is in a most delightful location, situated atop a high hill covered with trees, overlooking the modern Via Salaria and the entire Tiber Valley, which, on the opposite bank, is encircled by the mountains of Prima Porta, formerly Rubrae.”
A. Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, 1848
The Marcigliana Nature Reserve encompasses a series of hills bounded to the west by the Tiber River, to the south by the Bufalotta stream, and to the north by the Rio del Casale, which also marks the boundary of the Municipality of Rome. The gently rolling hills that make up the estate are still cultivated or used for grazing, while the valley slopes are covered in scrubland: remnants of oak woodland (including Turkey oak, English oak, downy oak, and Hungarian oak), often accompanied by maples and elms.
The estate’s wildlife is of great interest: foxes, beech martens, weasels, and even badgers and porcupines can be found here, along with the rare Italian hare. The historical landscape system of the large estates (Marcigliana, Tor S. Giovanni) is of fundamental importance, characterized by ancient farmhouses—often built on the remains of Roman villas—and medieval towers that form a unique historical continuum. In this area once stood the ancient Latin city of Crustumerium, with its imposing defensive walls guarding an ancient route that connected Etruria and Campania.
The Castello del Duca (Duke’s Castle) was built in the Middle Ages on the ruins of a Roman villa. It has been known since the 11th century as a property of the Abbey of Farfa, under the name Marcilianus or Casale della Marciliana (or Marcigliana), a name derived from fundus Marcellianus or praedium Marcellianum, as it belonged to the Marcelli, descendants of the Claudii family, to whom the Roman Senate and People had granted these lands. Starting in the 12th century, the Castello del Duca belonged to the Church of Santa Maria in Via Lata, later passing into the hands of several noble families: the Barberini in the 1600s, the Gabrielli in the 1700s, the Carpegna in the 1800s, and the Grazioli from the second half of the 19th century. In particular, between the 16th and 17th centuries, the medieval fortified building was transformed according to the needs of these noble families, acquiring the features of a villa.
Even earlier, the Castello del Duca likely served as the original nucleus and, later, the acropolis of the ancient Latin city of Crustumerium, whose importance, already from the 9th century BCE—two centuries before the traditional founding of Rome in 754 BCE—was largely due to its control of the Via Salaria and the adjacent stretch of the Tiber River. Crustumerium lost importance starting from the 5th century BCE, leading to the division of its territory into agricultural estates corresponding to Roman villas that dotted the countryside during the Republican and Imperial eras.
According to Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the famous “Rape of the Sabine Women” also involved the city of Crustumerium. At the end of the resulting war, its defeated inhabitants were deported to Rome, and their territory was assigned to the Crustumina (or Clustumina) and Claudia tribes. From that point on, Crustumerium is no longer mentioned in historical sources, although the Battle of the Allia (390 BCE)—in which the Roman army was tragically defeated by the Senones (a Gallic tribe)—was fought in its territory.
Since 1989, the area of Crustumerium has been fully subject to archaeological protection, and since 1997, with the establishment of the Marcigliana Nature Reserve, it has also been under landscape and environmental protection. Within the archaeological area, excavations in recent years by the Archaeological Superintendence of Rome in collaboration with the University of Groningen have uncovered an important necropolis consisting of several thousand tombs, dating from the 9th to the 6th century BCE