PALESTRINA (anc. Præneste), a town of Italy, in the province and 23 m. E. S. E. of Rome; pop. about 6,000. It is built almost entirely on the site of the ancient temple of Fortune, which after its restoration by Sulla occupied the whole lower slope of the hill, more than 2,000 ft. high, with a citadel on the summit, which was replaced by a mediae val castle. The only notable buildings are the deserted Barberini palace and the church of San Rosario, with tombs of the Barberini and Colonna families, the latter preponderating here during the middle ages. (See Præneste.)