Dome

Well in front of the palace; The modern town is built on the ruins of the famous temple of Fortuna Primigenia. The upper terrace of the temple forms the courtyard of the palazzo. The Barbarini family gained control of the town in 1629 (purchased from the Colonna family, including the baronial palace. Taddeo Barberini had married into the Colonna family in 1627.) He redesigned the Palazzo Colonna at Palestrina and built a new city gate, the Porta del Sole (ca. 1630; probably designed by Luigi Arrigucci), decorated with Barberini bee and sun images and giving on to a road that led directly to the remodelled palazzo. Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII), treated the comune as a principality in its own right. Patriarchs of the Barberini family conferred, on various family members, the title of Prince of Palestrina. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 7/17/2010)