Torre della Moletta - Roma, Italy - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

From Wikipedia: "The name of "Torre della Moletta" derives from the fact that the medieval building now present inside the Circus Maximus was once set against a mill using the water of the so-called Fosso di San Giovanni, a stream that already the Romans had defined with the names of Aqua Iulia (because passing through the Palatine where the imperial palaces stood) or more characteristically of Aqua Circuli precisely in reference to the circus. The water arrived in the position of the tower (or near the "spine" of the circus) in 46 BC when, as we learn from Suetonius, Julius Caesar after having organized a fake battle and a hunt in the circus, he had the trench dug for the spectators' safety.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages, the circus area was used for vineyards and vegetable gardens. In this period a mill was built for the processing of agricultural products with a defensive tower designed to protect an area of ??great importance for the supply of foodstuffs.

In the early Middle Ages the area fell into disrepair to such an extent that the anonymous einsidlense and liber pontificalis of Pope Leo III already mention the ruin of the ancient church of Santa Lucia in Septisolio, which was first closed and then completely destroyed. In the 16th century the corresponding cardinalate diaconia was finally abolished.

In 1145 the tower became the property of the Frangipane family who gave it its present shape with the characteristic quadrangular plant and a high part characterized by blind arches. At the same time, the Frangipane made it the center of a real fortified complex. We know that in 1213 the tower was inhabited by Iacopa of the Normans (also called Iacopa dei Settesoli), widow of Graziano Frangipane, who had retired here after her husband's death and after entering the Franciscan Third Order. That same year Francesco d'Assisi came to Rome for his last stay in the eternal city. According to legend, the saint was hosted by Iacopa in her home, and for this reason the woman received a lamb as a gift.

The buildings around the tower, including the mill and other medieval houses, were finally demolished in 1943 when the Italian state thought of digging the circus, a project that was later abandoned due to the war events." (visit link)

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