Ulubrae, mentioned as a typical desert village by Roman writers, lay in the plain between Cisterna and Sermoneta.
In collaboration with his friend and sponsor Michelangelo Caetani - later the Duke of Sermoneta and a noted archaeologist - Castellani began to draw inspiration from archaeological discoveries particularly those of the pre-Roman Estruscan culture.
He married on 17 September 1951 Lelia Calista Ada Caetani (b. 1913; d. 11 Jan 1977), painter and plantswoman, daughter of the noted composer Roffredo Caetani, 17th Duke of Sermoneta and 8th Prince of Teano (1871–1961), who was the last of her 1,000-year-old family line.
The fictional character Serena van der Woodsen in Cecily von Ziegesar's 2011 novel Gossip Girl, Psycho Killer wear's taupe-colored Sermoneta kidskin gloves when she sneaks into the home of her friend Nate Archibald.