| This town stands on a solitary hill
along the ancient path of the Via Labicana, from which it dominates
the nearby Roman country and the other hills. Its origins are
very ancient as the recently discovered necropolis near the town
testifies. As it is referred in the historical documents, after
the destruction of Labicum in the 5th century B.C., the survivors
settled along the Labicana, called ‘Ad Quintas', and
they were therefore called Labicani Quintanenses.
During the Republican and the Imperial age, numerous villas
were built in this place. With the diffusion of Christianity
it became Episcopal see, hosting a great number of bishops from
313 to 1111. Later it was absorbed by Tuscolo, and so started
its decline. In a document of the 1047 the town is mentioned
with its present name as a property of the Church. Its successive
owners were the Conti di Tuscolo. A branch of this family took
the name of Colonna right from this town; this family became
very famous.
During the Middle Ages, Colonna was destroyed and changed its
owners several times, however it went always back to the Colonna's
Family. They possessed the town till 1622, when it was sold
because of their debts to the cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, whose
heirs sold it to G. B. Rospigliosi in 1670. The 28th December
1829, the town was declared a municipality.
It is worth visiting the historical centre: its medieval structure,
its small buildings (three stocks at least) and the narrow streets,
which offer a special panorama on the nearby country.
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