The most important archeological finding in the area, dating back to
Ancient Roman times, during the late Republican Age, is a patrician Roman villa probably belonging to
Lucullus. In the first century AD its owner was
Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus, who married
Agrippina the Younger, mother of
Nero. His properties were later confiscated by the Flavian imperial dynasty (69–96 AD). Consul Flavius Clemens lived in the villa with his wife Domitilla during the rule of
Domitian. According to the
Liber Pontificalis, in the 9th century Frascati was a little village, probably founded two centuries earlier. The name of the city probably comes from a typical local tradition of collecting firewood ("frasche" in Italian)—many place-names around the town refer to trees or wood. After the destruction of nearby
Tusculum in 1191, the town's population increased and the
bishopric moved from Tusculum to Frascati.
Pope Innocent III endorsed the city as a feudal possession of the basilica of
San Giovanni in Laterano, but in the following centuries its territories were ravaged by frequent raids that impoverished it. It was owned by various baronial families, including the
Colonna, until, in 1460,
Pope Pius II fortified the city with walls. At the beginning of the sixteenth century,
Pope Julius II gave Frascati as a feudal possession to the
condottiero Marcantonio I Colonna, who lived there from 1508 together with his wife Lucrezia della Rovere (1485–1552), niece of Pope Julius II. In 1515 Colonna gave Frascati its first statute,
Statuti e Capituli del Castello di Frascati, under the Latin title
Populus antiquae civitas Tusculi. In 1518 a hospital was built, named after St. Sebastiano, in memory of the old basilica destroyed in the 9th century. After Prince Colonna's death in 1522, Lucrezia della Rovere sold Frascati to
Pier Luigi Farnese, nephew of Pope
Paul III. On May 1, 1527, a
Landsknecht company, after having
sacked Rome, arrived out of the bordering villages. However, the soldiers changed the direction of their movement next to a niche, a "
Rural Aedicule" consecrated to the Virgin Mary, and the town was therefore saved. This event is commemorated by a church now called Capocroce. In 1538, Pope
Paul III conferred the title of "Civitas" to Frascati, with the name "Tusculum Novum". In 1598 construction began on a new cathedral dedicated to St. Peter. On September 15, 1616, the first public and free school in Europe was established on the initiative of
Saint Joseph Calasanz. On June 18, 1656, a part of the plaster peeled off a wall inside the Church of St. Mary in Vivario, and an ancient fresco became visible. It was the image of Saints
Sebastian and
Roch, protector from the plague. In that same year there was an epidemic of
plague in Rome but Frascati was unaffected. Since that year, the two Saints have been co-patron Saints of the city. There are statues of the two saints in the façade of the Cathedral. Between 1713 and 1729,
the head from a colossus of
Antinous was discovered in the area, and displayed in the
Villa Mondragone. In 1757 the Valle theater opened in the centre of the town, and in 1761 the fortress changed to a princely palace under the patronage of Cardinal
Henry Stuart, Duke of York. In 1809 Frascati was annexed to the
French Empire, and selected as the capital of the Roman canton. In autumn 1837, there was a plague epidemic in Rome, and 5,000 people left Rome. Frascati was the only city that opened its doors to them. Since then Frascati's flag has been the same as Rome's, yellow and red. In 1840 the "Accademia Tuscolana" was founded in the city by Cardinal-Bishop
Ludovico Micara. In 1856 the city was chosen as the terminus of the
Rome–Frascati railway, the first railway to be built by the
Papal State. The last section of the railway line was opened in 1884, 14 years after the city became part of the new
Kingdom of Italy. On December 17, 1901, Frascati started to receive electricity from a hydroelectric plant in
Tivoli. In 1906, an electric
tram line opened for service between Frascati,
Rome and
Castelli Romani. The trams traveled wholly along tracks laid down on existing streets as an interurban electric streetcar (
light rail). In 1954 the electric tram line was replaced by buses. Another electric tram service, the
Rome and Fiuggi Rail Road, called "Vicinali", was opened for service in 1916. It connected Frascati, Monte Porzio Catone, Monte Compatri and San Cesareo. This tram line was destroyed in 1943 and was replaced by buses. In 1943, during
World War II, Frascati was
heavily bombed because it contained the German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone. Approximately 50% of its buildings, including many monuments, villas and houses, were destroyed. One thousand Italians and 150 Germans died in that air strike and in a second air strike on January 22, 1944, the day of the battle of Anzio (
Operation Shingle). The city was liberated from the
Nazi German occupation on June 4, 1944, by the
85th Infantry Division. In 1944–1945 the ruins of the buildings were used to fill in a valley, and that land now supports the "8 September Stadium". ==Main sights==