The territory of Colonna is believed to have included the ancient community of Labici, located in the area of the modern comune of Monte Compatri.

Labici was conquered in 418 BC by the Romans under the dictator Quintus Servilius Priscus Structus Fidenas and razed to the ground.

Colonna is mentioned for the first time in 1047, in a deed of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, a guest at the castle, which had taken its name from a column of the ancient Labicum Quintanense, when he stopped there during his march that with his army to Naples along the Via Casilina.

The Baronial Palace (Italian: Palazzo Baronale) was built by the Colonna family in the 16th century on the site of the Roman castrum on the highest part on the hill.

The southwest side was modified when the church dedicated to Saint Nicholas was erected in the 18th century by the Pallavicini family.