Ariccia is the center of a region that was extremely important in Roman and pre-Roman mythology and religion because of its association with the goddess Diana and the god Virbius.

[3] Ariccia was one of the oldest cities of ancient Latium, and as the leader of the Latin League was a serious contender against Rome during the early days of the Roman Republic.

Porsena split his forces, and sent part of the Clusian army with his son Aruns to wage war on the Latin city of Aricia.

[8] Aricia was definitively conquered by the Romans under Caius Maenius in 338 BC, and became a civitas sine suffragio ("city without the vote"), but was soon given full rights.

Because of its wealth and its strategic location near the coast, the city was sacked several times during and after the fall of the Roman Empire, by Goths, Vandals and, finally, by the Saracens who destroyed it in 827.

During the reign of Pope Nicholas II the castle was absorbed by the Papal States, from which it, in turn, passed again to the Earls of Tusculum as a fiefdom (1116).

In 1637 Giovanni Argoli, at the request of his patron the Cardinal Lelio Biscia, writes up a description of votive objects and inscriptions found during excavations at Aricia.

This bridge bypassed the large wood (now the Parco Chigi) in the valley, which hindered access to Ariccia from Rome along the Via Appia.

The area around Ariccia houses many interesting archaeological finds such as the Villa of the Roman Emperor Vitellius, the remains of the Via Appia Antica, as well as those of the ancient temples on Monte Cavo and in the Lake Nemi basin.

Ariccia has a long history of welcoming artists and writers who have departed from Rome's heat and bustle for the breezy hillsides and groves overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The forested landscapes of Ariccia, which had given birth to the Latin-Roman cult of Diana, also had a special appeal to later writers and artists, especially those associated with Romanticism.

The Locanda Martorelli, the hotel which faced the palace in the Piazza di Corte, was a popular stop between Rome and Naples for those on the Grand Tour, and was frequented by artists and writers such as J.M.

Much of the city's greatest art, Roman-era sculpture excavated by archaeologists, has been distributed to the world's collections of classical artwork, so one often sees the name "Ariccia" pinned next to statues of Augustus or Diana that are being displayed far from Latium.

There is nearby train service directly to Stazione di Roma Termini from Albano Laziale, approximately two kilometres (1 mi) from Ariccia's main piazza.