Fabrica di Roma

The earliest written record of this church dates back to 1177, but as it was in a list of properties of the monastery of St. Elijah, the building clearly was already in some state of completion already by then. Art historians have not come to agreement on who painted the apse and the two side niches (Madonna of the Rosary, the symbol of the sacraments with seven streams gushing from the cross, paintings that were covered, and partly restored in 1954). The only thing certain is the date of the murals, which is written in the main apse: 1556. Local tradition attributes them to Taddeo Zuccari, who worked on the decoration of the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola, while others advance the name of Guido da Viterbo, but historian Cesare Verani attributes them to the brothers Bartholomew and Lorenzo Torresani, who were heavily influenced by the school of Raphael. In the apse you can admire the majestic Glory of the Blessed Redeemer surrounded by the symbols of the Passion, which is very reminiscent of that found in rooms in the Vatican painted by Raphael. In the drum below are represented: the Last Supper, with a background of perfectly constructed architectural scenes, the Crucifixion and the Flagellation. These frescoes were restored in 1955. Along the nave are the side altars with lively, expressive paintings by more recent and still anonymous authors: entering from the left are the Annunciation, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Gaetano, St. Francis, St. Rose of Viterbo, the souls in purgatory and the Assumption. Under the main altar the body of St. Justin Martyr was preserved, covered with wax and moved to Rome on September 22, 1791.

In the fourth decade of the twelfth century, Cistercians from the monastery of S. Sulpice-en-Bugey founded the Abbey of Falleri in Falerii Novi. The building still reflects the Cistercian architecture with its tuff with regular inserts of granite and decorations of marble. Entering the church you notice immediately austerity and simplicity of the work. The sanctuary has three naves, with the central and highest double the height of the sides: all are singly illuminated. The nave consists of four spans of quadrangular shape, which are doubled on the sides. The church has a transept ending at the east with a choir made up of five apses.

According to an old local tradition, the Church of Santa Maria della Pietà was built around a shrine depicting the Virgin and Child dating back probably to the middle of the 15th century. The decoration of the church extends through ten niches made of the same thickness as the wall. In the niches, the Nativity, the Virgin in Glory, the life of St. Andrew, St. Antonio Abate crowned by angels, St. Michael the Archangel and three saints, and one image that is no longer identifiable are depicted. The most important work is the one that is located to the right of the aisle. This fresco depicts St. Sylvester in his chair with scenes from his life and shows the year the works were created: 1560. Work was needed in the late 1960s to bring the frescoes to light. Painters Lorenzo and Alessandro Torresani are recognized as the creators of most of the paintings. The fresco depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints Anthony Abbot and Leonardo, which is enclosed in a frame of granite inserted in the second half of the 20th century, is particularly interesting.

The church of Our Lady of Victory is dedicated to San Sebastian but is known by all as Our Lady of Victory since its interior contains an important tile with the image of the Savior probably repainted in the 1400s. The church shows a facade with a bell tower, with the center of the beautiful portal surmounted by a single oculus, and rises on some steep stairs carved into the lava stone. The interior has a single nave with covered ceiling trusses.
The history of the Church of Our Lady of Stradella begins with the construction of a simple Marian shrine on the side of the road leading out of Fabrica, in order to protect the traveler. In effect, the Madonna of Stradella should be considered a church outside the city walls — that is, built outside the walls of the first centre of Fabrica. Therefore, it is possible that it may have been born as a small chapel that then, later, was transformed into the building that we know today. The plan is octagonal, the facade is simple, and the only decorative element in the interior is the wall painting of the altar, representing the Madonna and Child, a symbol of local 15th-century painting.

The castle, which is in the town centre, is always simply called La Rocca, as is the village surrounding it. Presumably built around 1000, it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1217 under the rule of the family of De Vico Prefects, powerful feudal lords of the Roman Tuscia. In 1539 it was sold to Pierluigi Farnese, and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese further improved the fortress, ordering the construction of the northern circular tower, completed by 1590. Hence the other name of the castle: Castello Farnese. The castle has a square shape, built on a spur of rock where you can still see the remains of the fortress on the western side; the side towards the village is surrounded by two powerful, angular circular towers and the square tower that dominates the landscape of Fabrica.

Falerii Novi is an archaeological site of an ancient Roman city, founded in 241 BC after the conquest of Veteres Falerii (now Civita Castellana), whose surviving inhabitants survivors were moved to this new urban area. The archaeological site is located on a road that could perhaps be the Via Annia, an alternate route of the Via Cassia; this road is approaches from the south coming from Nepet (now called Nepi), while its continuation north was certainly called via Amerina, the road leading to Amelia. The site is very impressive because through these remains, it is possible to reconstruct the original plan of the city, with its walls of 2,400 km perimeter still intact in some places, the turrets, the main gates giving access to the city, of which the one called Jupiter is the best preserved, and the remains of both the internal theatre and external amphitheatre.

The Palazzo Cencelli (now Town Hall) was built in medieval times. Around the middle of the 18th century the wealthy Cencelli family had the building remodeled several times, and it still houses a fair number of the frescoes commissioned during this period. Adjacent to the palazzo, which houses the city's government, is a historic Italian-style garden, composed of box hedges, cypresses and gushing fountains. A wooden bridge connects the garden to the building.

A grand Renaissance villa in Caprarola. A garden with Casino Del Piacere is behind the villa.