MARINO  , a

town of Italy, in the province of Rome, 15 m . S.E. of it by rail, and also accessible by electric .tramway . Pop . (1901), 7307 . It is picturesquely situated on a spur of the Alban Hills, 1165 ft. above sea level, and occupies the site of the ancient Castrimoenium, a municipium of no great importance, though the surrounding district, which now produces much wine, is full of remains of ancient villas . The origin of the name is uncertain; perhaps it is derived from the medieval Morena (itself derived from the Latin Murena, from one of the Roman owners of the district), a name originally given to the lower ground between the 9th and 11th mile of the Via Latina . In the early 13th century it belonged to the Frangipani family, but passed into the hands of the Orsini in 1266 . In 1378 a battle took place here between the partisans of Urban VI. and those of the anti-pope Clement VII. of Geneva (the Orsini having taken the side of the latter), who were, however, defeated; and in 1399 Marino was apparently under the Papacy . In 1408 it passed to the Colonna family, to whom it still belongs . There are some remains of the medieval fortifications . See G . Tomassetti, La Via latina net medio evo (Rome, 1886), p .

96 seq.; T .

Ashby, in Papers of the British School at Rome, vol. iv . (1907) . (T .