Prossedi: A Marchesa, a Major and the hidden secrets of a Medieval Borgo in Lazio
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Overview
Ninety minutes south of Rome, in the Monti Lepini hills of Lazio, the medieval borgo of Prossedi has been keeping its secrets for centuries. This day opens several of them at once. You descend into rock-carved cellars beneath a baronial palace for a welcome aperitif of local wines and cured meats. You walk streets that have not changed their essential character since the papal Middle Ages. The Mayor of Prossedi, Angelo Pincivero, opens a deconsecrated church that is closed to everyone else and stands inside it with you to tell you why it matters. A Marchesa of the Bonaparte-Gabrielli family receives you in a frescoed hall that has been closed for centuries and recently reopened, tells you what her family knows about Napoleon and about this land, and raises a glass with you. Then a master cheesemaker places hot curd in your hands and teaches you the ancient gestures of pasta filata. You make your own mozzarella. You eat it while it is still warm. Seven hours. One borgo. A day that could not happen anywhere else.
Included Privileges
- Private round-trip transfer from Rome (Canova Bar, Piazza del Popolo) to Prossedi and return.
- Private guide for the full day.
- Visit to the ancient rock-carved cellars beneath the Baronale Palace.
- Welcome aperitif with local cured meats, cheeses, extra virgin olive oil, and estate wines.
- Guided walk through the medieval borgo of Prossedi.
- Exclusive access to the deconsecrated church, opened only for your group, accompanied personally by the Mayor of Prossedi, Angelo Pincivero.
- Private access to the 18th-century frescoed hall of the Baronale Palace, recently reopened after centuries.
- Personal welcome by the Marchesa of the Bonaparte-Gabrielli family, including private storytelling and a glass of wine.
- Hands-on mozzarella-making session with a master cheesemaker inside the Castle kitchen.
- Each guest makes and immediately tastes their own freshly made warm mozzarella.
Itinerary
- Private pick-up at Canova Bar, Piazza del Popolo, Rome.
- Private transfer to Prossedi, approximately 90 minutes.
- Welcome by your private guide at the entrance to the borgo.
- Walk through the vineyard to admire the harvest (weather permitting).
- Descent into the ancient rock-carved cellars beneath the Baronale Palace.
- Welcome aperitif with local cured meats, cheeses, extra virgin olive oil, and estate wines.
- Introduction to the land, the harvest, and the must fermentation process.
- Private guided walk through the medieval streets of Prossedi.
- Stops at the main churches and panoramic viewpoints overlooking the Monti Lepini plain.
- The medieval and papal history of the borgo told through its streets, stones, and views.
- The Mayor of Prossedi, Angelo Pincivero, opens the deconsecrated church exclusively for your group.
- A private account of the history of the space, the link between religious and civil power in Prossedi, and the community's plans for its future.
- Anecdotes and stories that belong only to someone who was born here and holds this place in trust.
- Continuation of the guided walk through the historic centre.
- Private access to the 18th-century frescoed hall of the Baronale Palace, recently reopened after centuries.
- The Marchesa of the Bonaparte-Gabrielli family welcomes your group personally.
- A glass of wine and a private account of the family's history: the Bonaparte connection, the history of the palazzo, and the stories held within these walls.
- Private hands-on mozzarella-making session with a master cheesemaker inside the historic kitchen of the Castle.
- Each guest stretches, cuts, and closes their own mozzarella from hot curd, guided hand by hand by the master.
- Each guest tastes their mozzarella still warm: the authentic flavour exists only in this moment.
- Private transfer back to Rome.
- Arrival at Piazza del Popolo approximately 6:30 PM.
The Experience
The transfer from Rome arrives in Prossedi as the morning is still fresh. The borgo sits on a hill above the Monti Lepini plain, compact and medieval, its stone streets worn smooth by centuries of feet. Your private guide is already there. The first direction is down: into the ancient cellars carved into the rock beneath the Baronale Palace, where ...
Why Guests Love It
“The Marchesa, the Mayor, the mozzarella still warm in my hands. Three things I will never forget, and none of them were in any travel guide I had ever read.” — Patricia and David H., Canada
Meet the Expert
The Bonaparte-Gabrielli Family and Angelo Pincivero, Mayor of Prossedi
The Bonaparte-Gabrielli family has been part of the history of Prossedi for generations. The Gabrielli name is one of the great aristocratic families of the Papal States, and their connection with the Bonaparte line brought this corner of Lazio into contact with one of the most consequential dynasties in modern European history. The Marchesa who receives you in the frescoed hall of the Baronale Palace is not a custodian of a museum. She is a member of the family that built it, lived in it, and kept it across the centuries. The hall itself was closed for generations and has only recently been reopened. The frescoes on its walls were commissioned by ancestors whose names and stories she carries personally. The glass of wine she offers you, and the account she gives of her family's history, are not a performance. They are a private act of sharing that this family extends to very few people, and to no other experience in the world.
Angelo Pincivero is the Mayor of Prossedi and a man who has spent his life inside the history of this borgo. He knows which wall was built in which century, which family held which office, and what the relationship between the Church and the civil authority meant in practical terms for the people who lived here. The deconsecrated church he opens for your group is normally inaccessible. His presence inside it transforms the visit from an architectural encounter into a conversation with someone who understands this space as a civic responsibility, a piece of the community's inheritance that he holds in trust. The stories he tells inside that church cannot be found in any guidebook, because they have never been written down.
Prossedi itself is the third protagonist of this day. A medieval borgo in the Monti Lepini hills of Lazio, its stone streets, rock-carved cellars, panoramic views over the plain, and intact historic centre have remained essentially unchanged for centuries. The land produces wines, olive oil, and the fresh milk that becomes the mozzarella you make with your own hands. Everything about this day is rooted in a specific place that has refused to become a destination and remained, instead, exactly what it always was.