Its exact construction’s date
is unknown. Probably it was built during the monastic period.
It is made of grey peperino stones, always abundant in the places
of volcanic origin. In a bull of the 1244, Innocent IV (1243-1254)
defines Lanuvio as a “Castrum” and if we intend the
word Castrum with the meaning of a town with a defensive wall,
it is likely that the enclosure walls had already been completed
for that date.
The most ancient part is that with the angular tower, where
there were the Benedettini Monks. On the tower’s external
face, just over the inferior drum there is a marble coat of
arms divided in four parts, probably that of Vittore III, Montecassino’s
abbot.
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