page_title: Capena
section_title: Medieval and modern ages
hierarchical_section_title: Capena / History / Medieval and modern ages
caption_attribution_description: English: Medieval clock tower in Piazza del Popolo, Capena, Italy Italiano: Torre dell'Orologio, Piazza del Popolo, Capena, Italia
context_page_description: Capena is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio region. The town has borrowed its modern name from a pre-Roman and Roman settlement that was 3 kilometres to its north.
context_section_description: The site of present-day Capena has been inhabited intermittently since prehistoric times and archaeological finds dating from the seventh century BC indicate that the inhabitants used a distinctive alphabet (now called the Capena-Leprignano alphabet by philologists) for inscriptions written in the Faliscan language. Continuous habitation began in the 11th century AD, when the Benedictine monastery of Saint Paul – now usually referred to as the Palazzo dei Monaci (Palace of the Monks) – was established on the tuff outcrop known as ‘la Rocca’ (the Rock).
  The main frontage of the palazzo faces the Piazza del Popolo, the largest public space in Capena. Originally simply called the ‘Piazza’, the square was laid out in the 16th century, when its extant clock tower was erected on the north side. The surviving monastery complex dates primarily from the Renaissance era, with extensive modifications in 1851.
  Despite occasional popular uprisings, the entire village remained under monastic jurisdiction until the fall of the Papal States in 1870, when Leprignano (now Capena) broke away and became an independent municipality.
  The palazzo continued to be occupied by monks until the end of the 19th century. The former monastery was subsequently used for municipal purposes and as a school until 1930, and was later subdivided and sold to individuals.
  Capena's population has grown rapidly in recent years, as a result of new residential developments on its outskirts. However, the centro storico (the old quarter in the west of the built-up area) has remained little changed in many decades, as can be observed from a comparison between contemporary images and the scenes filmed around the Fontana di Porta Nuova in the 1952 movie Totò a colori. and more widely around Capena in the following year's musical film Saluti e Baci.
caption: 16th-century clock tower
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