On the top of Mount Ginestro stand the remains of a fortress. Its origin is believed to date back to the 10th C. A.D. when Pope John XIII granted his sister Stefania, a Roman senator, the fief of Preneste with its adjoining territories, with the commitment to built a fortress on the “Preneste” Mount, what is currently knows as the San Pietro Romano Castle.
The Rocca di Preneste (Preneste Fortress) was already known in 980 and was used as a prison by the Colonna family who had inherited in earlier years. Boniface VII it was who imposed its destruction in 1299 along with all those found on within the Colonna fiefdoms.
In 1306, under the papacy of Clemente V, the Colonna’s regained their rights over their lands and Stefano Colonna rebuilt Preneste. However, new conflicts arose between the family and the papacy in 1436 which drove Pope Hadrian IV to banish the Colonna family from their possessions and cardinal Vitelleschi to have the entire city and Fortress raised to the ground in 1438.
Ten years later, the new peace with the papacy enabled Lorenzo Colonna to rebuild Preneste along with some other defensive works, so in 1482 the Fortress stood once more. It had by this time however lost its original purpose and the Colonna’s first and later the Barberini’s let it go to ruin.
The fortress is built on a square plan with towers in each corner. The cylindrical bastion in the middle was used as a prison. The fortress was connected to the village by means of a small bridge with an arched portal.

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