Formello

History

The area has been settled since prehistoric times. As an Italian comune, it includes some of the archaeological sites associated with the powerful former Etruscan city of Veii, which rivaled Rome for a time, north of the village of Isola Farnese, south of Formello. Settlement in the region declined after Veii's destruction in 396 BC. In this area, about 780 AD, with peaceful conditions reestablished, Pope Adrian I assembled a great estate of which this territory formed part, his Domusculta Capracorum, in contrast with the power of the Abbey of Farfa, but it was destroyed by Saracen attacks in the ninth century. The domus' territories included a fundus Formellum, where a settlement developed that was first mentioned in 1027. In the 11th century it was a possession of the Roman Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura, and was probably fortified in the same period. In 1279 it became a fief of the Orsini family, who sold it to the Chigi in 1661.

Most-observed species

• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  977
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  526
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  471
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  469
• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  461
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  427
• Tree-of-Heaven

  Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle · Magnoliopsida
  408
• Italian Sparrow

  Passer italiae (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  394

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2025-09-20
  4 km SSE of San Terenziano, Italy
• M 2.7 — 2025-05-08
  1 km NNE of Montecompatri, Italy
• M 3.2 — 2025-03-04
  3 km S of Bevagna, Italy
• M 3.1 — 2020-05-11
  7 km NNW of Rome, Italy
• M 4.1 — 2019-09-01
  1 km N of Norcia, Italy
• M 3.4 — 2019-06-23
  1 km WSW of Gallicano nel Lazio, Italy