Page 302 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

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284 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

The mention made of the Zouaves in the plaque dictated by Bovio and
placed on the Porta Romana (or S. Rocco, at present Garibaldi) in memory
of the feat of arms we are talking about is therefore not historically accurate.
Monterotondo was surrounded on the north and west by some old walls
5 metres high and running for over 500 metres with three doors (Porte):
Romana and Canonica (near the Cathedral) to the north, Palazzo or Ducale,
facing Palazzo Piombino to the east, all on the Nomentana road. Between
Porta Romana and Porta Canonica the walls formed a recess that on the right
gave space to the large square facing Porta Romana. Above this there was a
kind of battlemented gallery; over the Porta Canonica there was also a plat-
form with a parapet. Nothing at Porta Ducale, but on the left, coming out,
the wall protruded outwards of the door like some sort of balcony, with a
parapet accessed from inside the walls. From this balcony it was possible to
defend well the access to Porta Palazzo.
Porta Romana is the only one remaining; the other two have been demol-
ished like a large part of the walls.
Monterotondo had no walls to the south and the west; the outer houses
have doors and windows overlooking the countryside and run for about 7-
800 metres.
A small village named S. Rocco after the church of the same name, is
across from Porta Romana ; north of this village, 500 metres from the walls
is the convent of S. Maria.
Across from Porta Ducale, there are houses scattered on the Nomentana
road that leads to the Pia Promenade and this to Madonna di Loreto and the
cemetery on the road to Montelibretti.
Further on and south of the Nomentana, the large building of the
Cappuccini convent 700 metres as the crow flies from Monterotondo.
The ground adjacent the inhabited area, cultivated with fruit trees and
vines, is flat to the north and the east while it descends steeply to the south
and the west on the deep bed of the Carapone and its first small tributary
from the right.
The defence was organised as follows:
- Lieutenant Crozes at Porta Romana, with the 2 nd Division of the 2 nd
company of the Roman legion; he had taken position on the gallery over the
door and the highest windows of the nearby houses;
- Captain Carlhian at Porta Canonica with the rest of the 2 nd company;
- At Porta Palazzo was Sergeant Major Cammaerts who lead the 2 nd