Boville Ernica is a town and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in Lazio, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is located over the summit of a steep hill commanding the Liri, Cosa

Cosa River

The Coşa River is a tributary of the Râuşor in Romania.-References:* Administraţia Naţională Apelor Române - Cadastrul Apelor - Bucureşti* Institutul de Meteorologie şi Hidrologie - Rîurile României - Bucureşti 1971...

 and Sacco

Sacco

Sacco is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy.-Overview:Sacco is known as La Città della Buona Fortuna , because many of its inhabitants have gone on to accomplish many great things...

 valleys.

History

The town's history stretches back to pre-Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times, which is testified by its numerous archaeological findings and prehistoric Pelasgic wall

Pelasgic wall

The Pelasgic wall or Pelasgian fortress or Enneapylon was a monument supposed to have been built by the Pelasgians, after levelling the summit of the rock on the Acropolis of Athens. Thucydides and Aristophanes call it "Pelargikon", "Stork wall or place"...

s. Its primordial name, "Bauco", recalls the ancient agricultural worship of the god Bove, symbol of fertility. In the archaeological area of Monte Fico, where once stood a temple dedicated to this divinity, there have come to light votive statuettes featuring ox

Ox

An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...

en.

Boville Ernica was once situated on the plains below its present site, but after the Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 and Hungarian invasions (9th–10th centuries), its population moved to the higher levels of Monte Fico, where the ancient center was transformed into one of the most fortified towns in the region.

Main sights

In addition to the Pelasgic walls, sights include the imposing castle and its powerful belts of Medieval walls having as many as 18 turrets and towers (alternating as round and square shapes), all still stand completely intact.

Boville is also home to many Renaissance palaces and churches. Among them is the notable church of San Pietro Ispano, erected in the 12th century over the actual grotto, in which for many years lived penitent the Patron Saint. The church still conserves an early-Christian sarcophagus, two reliquaries, belonging to S. Pietro Ispano and S. Lucy, a chapel once belonging to the noble family of the Simoncelli, a Sansovino

Jacopo Sansovino

Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino was an Italian sculptor and architect, known best for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino's Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity...

 basrelief and a mosaic attributed to Giotto.

External links

• Boville Ernica's cemetery, the first one in Italy on internet.