Morlupo Medieval town between the Veio Park and the Tiber Valley

Morlupo is a small town, just a few kilometres from the capital, nestled in a hilly landscape between the Veio Park and the Tiber Valley.

Its Etruscan origins are testified by the immense network of underground spaces and tunnels used in ancient times for burials.

It was also an important centre in Roman times, as demonstrated by the discovery of a way station at the 20th mile of the Via Flaminia.

Later, the area came under the control of the Church and then of the Orsini family who, despite many clashes with the Colonna family, dominated the feud until the early 1600s when it was sold to the Borghese family.

The name of the town probably derives from an ancient colony of soldiers called the 'rapacious wolves of Mars' (Martis rapaces lupi), abbreviated as Morlupo.