Ariccia: the porchetta, Palazzo Chigi and the bridge

Say Ariccia and most people think of porchetta, and they are right. But the town on the Appian Way is also one of the small masterpieces of Roman Baroque, designed in part by Bernini.

The porchetta

Porchetta is a whole boned pig, seasoned with herbs and spices, tied and slow roasted in the oven. In the Castelli it is eaten sliced, in a bread roll or in the fraschette, with a glass of wine; we write about fraschette in what to eat in the Castelli Romani.

• PGI since 2011. Porchetta di Ariccia received the European Protected Geographical Indication in June 2011: the specification sets how it is made and where.
• The festival since 1950. The first porchetta festival was organised in 1950 by the town’s porchetta makers. It is usually held in early September, but not always: in 2025, for example, it was not held. Dates and programme should be checked on the town’s website.

Piazza di Corte and Bernini

The heart of Ariccia is piazza di Corte. On one side stands Palazzo Chigi: built by the Savelli at the end of the sixteenth century, it was enlarged by the Chigi between 1661 and 1672 with Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Carlo Fontana. Since 1988 it has belonged to the town. If you have seen Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, of 1963, you have already seen it: some scenes were shot here.

Opposite is the collegiate church of Santa Maria Assunta, designed by Bernini and built between 1664 and 1665 for Pope Alexander VII Chigi. Its design openly draws on the Pantheon.

The bridge

You reach the town from Albano over the Ariccia bridge, which spans the valley. It was built between 1847 and 1854 under Pius IX. The Germans blew it up in 1944; rebuilt after the war, it collapsed again in 1967 and was rebuilt once more.

On the Appian Way

Ariccia was the first staging post, the mansio, on the Appian Way leaving Rome, from 312 BC. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Locanda Martorelli welcomed artists and Grand Tour travellers, as Frascati and the other towns of the hills did.

In short

• The dish: porchetta, PGI since 2011.
• The festival: since 1950, usually early September; check the dates.
• To see: piazza di Corte, Palazzo Chigi, Bernini’s collegiate church (1664-1665), the bridge (1847-1854).
• Curiosity: The Leopard was filmed at Palazzo Chigi.
• Nearby: Nemi, Castel Gandolfo, the Castelli Romani in one day.