Oriolo Romano is an example of a small 16th-century town built according to a rational and functional layout by Giorgio Santacroce. He invited farmers and peasants from Umbria and Tuscany to clear and plow the land and provided housing for them. Even nowadays, the inhabitants of Oriolo still use idioms and expressions that hail back to their ancestors’ original homelands.

Santacroce’s work is celebrated by an inscription on the main building in Oriolo, the Renaissance building known as Villa Altieri. The structure was named after the family who became lords of Oriolo in the late 17th century. The family even produced a pope, Clement X. Palazzo Altieri is an excellent example of Mannerist architecture applied to the fortified mansions owned by Rome’s noble families.