The Fortress of Sant’Angelo on Mons Spatula was founded, near
the Church of St. Michael Archangelo, in the second half of the
12th century, by the powerful Roman senator Giovanni Capocci
(from where the name St. Angelo in Capoccia derives). The
Fortress was passed down the generations following the laws of
primogeniture until 1370 when Perna Capocci married Ugo Orsini
and the fief of Sant'Angelo with all its possessions became
property of the Orsini family. The last Orsini to possess it was
Giordano di Napoleone and at his death (early 1500s) the
Fortress was ceded to the Apostolic Camera. Around 1590, the
fief of Sant'Angelo was bought by Bartholomew and Federico Cesi,
uncle and father of Federico who founded the Academia dei
Lincei, thereby bringing the entire Sabine-Cornicolano territory
into the family's hands. During the second half of the 17th
century, the fief of Sant'Angelo was sold to the Borghese family
to pay off debts, as were all the other Cesi possessions in the
area. Once a local governor had b