Frosinone

The first traces of human presence around modern Frosinone date from the lower Palaeolithic (around 250,000 years ago). The earliest settlements in the area are from around 4000 years ago, including late Bronze Age remains in what is now the upper part of the city (12th-10th century BC) and 7th-6th century BC sepoltures. 21 tombs from a Volscan necropolis were found in the Frosinone centre. Frusino (as it is called in ancient Latin sources) was part of the Hernici but its inhabitants were mostly Volscans. In 306 BC the city took part in the Hernic League against Rome; defeated and sacked, it lost much of its territories to the nearby Ferentino. Later, during the Second Punic War, it was devastated by Hannibal's armies, to which it has refused to surrender.
The Roman writer Cicero had a villa in Frusino. The city obtained the citizenship rights and became a colony in Roman imperial times, when part of its lands were assigned to Roman legionaries. Frosinone was the birthplace of two early Christian popes, Hormisdas and his son Silverius (6th century AD), who are now its patron saints.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Frosinone was destroyed several times by foreign invaders; in the early Middle Ages it was an agricultural center, usually of Papal allegiance. After escaping the dominance of the nearby commune of Anagni, in the early 14th century it fell under Alatri. In 1350 it was damaged by an earthquake. After the Sack of Rome (1527), Frosinone was also ravaged by German, Florentine and French troops and again, in 1556, by Spanish troops fighting against Pope Paul IV. The following year it became the official seat of the papal governor of the province of Campagna and Marittima.

Frosinone steadily expanded its population in modern times, passing from around 2000 people in the mid-17th century to the over 10,000 it had at the Unification of Italy (late 19th century). In 1863 it was connected to the national railway network. In 1927 the Fascist government made it the capital of a new province, created with territories from the provinces of Caserta and Rome. In 1943-1944, during the Allied invasion of southern occupied Italy in World War II, it was bombed 56 times by Anglo-American planes; the first Allied troops entered Frosinone on 31 May 1944.

After the war, as the city was rebuilt in more modern lines, Frosinone lost its traditional agricultural role in favour of industry and, above all, tertiary (commercial) activities. In 1962 it was reached by the A1 Rome-Naples motorway.