Rocca di Cave is the smallest and one of the most striking villages of the Prenestini Mountains, not far from San Vito Romano. Its origins go back to around 850 AD, when Benedictine monks from Subiaco founded a first fortified settlement here, called “Castello dei Santi Tre” (“Castle of the Three Saints”), to defend against Saracen raids. The name Rocca di Cave first appears in a document from 1125; conquered in 1101 by Pietro Colonna, the village remained under the control of the powerful Roman family until the late 19th century.
Perched on Monte Manno, on the southern slope of the Prenestini Mountains, the village is dominated by the remains of its medieval castle, today largely in ruins but still capable of offering one of the widest panoramas in Lazio: from its terraces the view stretches for over 100 kilometres, from the Tyrrhenian coast to the heart of the Apennine chain, in one of the most spectacular vistas of the whole Prenestini area.
The territory of Rocca di Cave also holds a geological heritage of exceptional value: its rocky outcrops preserve fossil remains of a coral reef roughly 100 million years old, and in 2016 the skeleton of a sauropod dinosaur, nicknamed “Tito”, dating back some 112 million years, was discovered here - a find that helped redraw the geography of prehistoric Italy.
Still today Rocca di Cave, the second-highest municipality in the province of Rome, remains an unmissable stop for anyone seeking breathtaking views and a dive into history, amid medieval ruins and traces of a remote past carved into the rock.
Opening hours and contacts
The “Ardito Desio” Geo-Palaeontological Museum, housed in the fortress, the planetarium and the fossil reef are part of the Rocca di Cave Museum System (SMuRC).
SMuRC does not publish fixed opening hours: openings follow a calendar of open days and activities, mostly at weekends and on public holidays. On the most recent open days the museum was open from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. For workshops, guided tours and planetarium shows, booking is mandatory on the booking portal.
Phone: +39 352 071 4185
Email: info@smurc.it; for bookings prenotazioni@smurc.it
Addresses: museum at Via della Torre 30; planetarium and Dinosaur Garden at Via Colle Pozzo 1; fossil reef on Via di Genazzano, Rocca di Cave (Rome)
Before setting off, it is best to check on the SMuRC website which days the museum is open.
Sources: SMuRC - Sistema Museale di Rocca di Cave for contacts and addresses; Monti Prenestini for the opening hours of the latest open day (checked in October 2026).
Photo: Siluc, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (view of the Prenestini Mountains); Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, public domain.