Montelanico (a village of approximately 2,400 inhabitants in the Lepini mountains, Metropolitan City of Rome. 60km southeast of Rome, at 600m altitude on the calcareous Lepini ridge above the Sacco valley plain) is the hill village whose primary cultural-agricultural identity is the Fagioli del Purgatorio di Onano, the specific white bean variety (the "Purgatorio" bean, the name deriving from the town of Onano in the Viterbo province where the variety originated in the 16th century and from where it spread to the volcanic and calcareous soils of the Lazio mountain zones where the specific growing conditions produce the particular skin thinness and flavor concentration that distinguish the Purgatorio bean from all next industrial bean varieties). The Montelanico Purgatorio beans (grown on the specific calcareous-volcanic Lepini slope at 600m, harvested in August, dried and stored in the traditional cloth sacks) are considered by the Italian Slow Food movement (which has protected the Fagioli del Purgatorio of both Onano and the Lazio mountain territories under its Presidio designation) to be among the finest surviving examples of Italian bean heritage.
The Montelanico bean tradition: the Purgatorio bean grown at Montelanico is a small white bean with the specific skin so thin that it virtually disappears during cooking, producing a bean that is simultaneously creamy in texture and structurally intact, the specific combination that makes the Purgatorio the ideal bean for the specific Lazio preparation of pasta e fagioli (the pasta and bean soup that is the canonical Roman peasant dish in its mountain variant, where the Lepini bean replaces the standard borlotti).
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Montelanico: Bean, Village, and View
The Fagioli del Purgatorio
The Montelanico Purgatorio bean buy (direct from the village producers who sell from their homes during and after the August harvest, or at the Montelanico Sagra dei Fagioli del Purgatorio, the September festival dedicated to the bean, the most specific single-product sagra (local food festival) in the Lepini mountain calendar): the dried bean (€8-15 per kg direct from producer, versus the rare-bean market price of €20-30 per kg in Rome specialty shops) is the primary Montelanico agricultural product. Preparation: soak 12 hours in cold water. Cook in fresh cold water without salt for 45-60 minutes until tender. The specific Montelanico preparation, with olive oil, garlic, sage, and the pasta fragment of choice (the broken spaghetti or the short pasta maltagliati), is the canonical Lepini mountain pasta e fagioli.
The Montelanico Castle and View
The Montelanico castello (the medieval fortification on the hilltop above the village, the Colonna family castle whose specific 15th-century architecture dominates the village profile and from whose walls the panoramic view over the Sacco valley and the Ernici mountains beyond is the most complete single elevated view of the central Lazio interior available from a Lepini height) is the primary architectural monument: the castle exterior is freely visible. The interior access (the municipal cultural program) organizes periodic visits.
Q&A: Montelanico
When is the Sagra dei Fagioli del Purgatorio at Montelanico?
The Sagra dei Fagioli del Purgatorio di Montelanico is held annually in September (typically the second or third Sunday, check comune.montelanico.rm.it for the exact 2026 date). The sagra serves the specific Purgatorio bean preparations: the pasta e fagioli, the bean soup with pork, the bean salad with local olive oil, and the boiled beans with the new-harvest oil. The Montelanico sagra is one of the 15-20 bean festivals in Italy that the Slow Food movement identifies as the most authentically product-centered, the Purgatorio bean is the protagonist rather than a secondary element of a general food festival.
