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The history of the Rock of Subiaco is inextricably linked to that of the Benedictine abbey founded by St. Benedict of Nursia in the late fifth century, and its powerful abbots. The castle was built overlooking the residential area of ??medieval Subiaco, away from the monasteries and the Sacred Cave of St. Scholastica, as if to emphasize the temporal power exercised by the abbots of the village. Old news to a castle in Subiaco you have a bubble of 937 of Pope Leo VII where it was enshrined in the passage of the fort and the land to the monastery of St. Scholastica causing the strong reaction of the inhabitants. The struggle for domination of Subiaco ended only in the following century with Abbot John V who crushed all forms of resistance and to better express their power and domination instead will rebuild a new castle. Abbot John V chose the better part of not only defend against attacks by invaders, but also protected from the dangers posed by the many floods of the river flowing at the foot of the town Aniene. Since then, the castle became the residence of the powerful abbots of Subiaco and the first Abbot was the famous Cardinal Torquemada. At the end of the fifteenth century, was completely rebuilt from the second Abbot, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, later elected pope under the name of Alexander VI. Tradition has it that the children were born in the fortress Subiaco Rodrigo, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. The new fortification of irregular plan, became the administrative control of the many other castles and forts governed by abbots of Subiaco. Equally important was going to be a defensive bulwark because the border between the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. Cardinal Borgia was elected Pope, the position of the commendatory abbot went to Cardinal Giovanni Colonna the first in a long series of the same lineage of abbots in Rome. This policy change was unwelcome and that provoked the ire of the Borgia Borgia sent troops commanded by Napoleon to attack the fortress. In 1557 it was restored by Cardinal Francesco Colonna. The abbots of the Colonna family remained until 1608 when the charge went to the Borghese family until 1625 and then to the Barberini family until 1738. Last commendatory abbot, prior to the deletion of this prestigious office, was Cardinal Giovan Battista Spinola, the last exercise, according quandomdecretato by Pope Benedict XIV Lambertini, the temporal power of Subiaco and surrounding towns. Important changes were made to the rock during the late eighteenth century by Cardinal Braschi Giannangelo then elected pope with the name of Pius VI, who began a radical adaptation of the ancient fortress in the forms of housing. Braschi instead come from Rome workers, architects and decorators who, on his behalf, were putting the hands of the Vatican Palace and the palace of the Family in Piazza Navona. Pietro Camporese The arhitetto then brings together the various nuclei of the castle in one magnificent palace, whose interior was painted by one of the most prestigious artists of the Roman period, Liborio Coccetti. Commendam abolished in 1915 the fortress was long abandoned. Still owned by the Benedictines.