Ancient era The territory of Colonna is believed to have included the ancient community of
Labici, located in the area of the modern
comune of
Monte Compatri. Labici was conquered in 418 BC by the Romans under the
dictator Quintus Servilius Priscus Structus Fidenas and razed to the ground. The Labicani then founded Labicum Quintanas near the Tower of the Pasolina near Colonna. The place is noted as
Ad Quintanas, a station on the
Via Labicana, between
Rome and
Ad Bivium.
Middle Ages Labicum Quintanas became an episcopal see in the 4th century. The inhabited area began to decay and disappeared with the Gothic War (535–554). Colonna is mentioned for the first time in 1047, in a deed of
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, a guest at the castle, which had taken its name from a column of the ancient Labicum Quintanense, when he stopped there during his march that with his army to Naples along the
Via Casilina. In 1101 Peter, child of
Gregory III,
Count of Tusculum, received as inheritance the territory and the Castle of Columna, with
Monte Porzio Catone,
Monte Compatri and other surrounding possessions. Peter was the founder of
Colonna family, which took the name from this property. In 1298
Pope Boniface VIII ordered the destruction of Colonna and its castle as punishment against the Colonna family. With the advent of
Pope Clement V (1305) the Colonna family resumed the fief with all of its territories.
Modern age In 1662, the Colonna family sold the
Castrum Columnae to Cardinal
Ludovico Ludovisi. In 1710 the Ludovisi family sold it to the Rospigliosi-Pallavicini family. The Rospigliosi-Pallavicini maintained the feudal dominion on Colonna up to 5 June 1848. In 1849 the
Comune and the Municipality of Colonna was constituted. ==Main sights ==