Alatri - Italy

Alatri (FR)

Lazio (Italy)

In the western slope of the Ernici Mounts there is one of the most important strongholds of the past: Alatri.
It dates back to the Iron Age, as testified to by the finding of a grave with its funerary finery in 1878.
In the 9th-7th centuries BC this land saw the first settlements built by the Ernici.
In 306 BC, the town, faithful to Rome, supported the Ernici who rose in revolt.
Then Alatri abandoned the League to which belonged and joined the Italic-Roman confederation.
In 90 BC it became a Roman municipality and knew the first influence of Christianity.
During the struggle with the papacy and the empire the town tried to gain its independence.
In modern times the town has grown around the old town centre.
A series of narrow and winding streets surround the acropolis, encircled by imposing Cyclopean walls.
Although their original aspect has been compromised by the bad weather, what we see it is enough to have an idea of how imposing they are.
The circle of walls runs for 2 km showing its efficacy.
In the Middle Ages 5 gateways were open in correspondence with the most important streets of the town; of these, Porta S: Pietro in the western section is the most important one.
In the middle of the western section there are Porta S: Benedetto with an intact trabeation and Porta S. Francesco.
On the opposite eastern side there are Porta S. Nicola, with a 19th-century arched lintel and a barrel vault that has been changed through the years, and Porta Portati with a peculiar threefold trabeation built in the Middle Ages in the place of the old Cyclopean monolith.
You enter the acropolis by two gateways: Porta Maggiore and Porta Minore.
The architrave Porta Maggiore, is one of the most splendid examples of Cyclopean architecture.
The gateway, which still shows the marks of its closing wing and the holes of its hinges, open into an unusual corridor leading to the acropolis square.
Porta Minore is made of four different stones, overlooked by a long lintel bearing a bas-relief depicting three phallic symbols.
The Church of S: Maria Maggiore is the most important religious building.
Built in the second half of the 5th century, it was rebuilt many times in the 13th century.
The façade is characterized by three doors and a remarkable rosette.
The severe line of the embattled bell tower is softened by a double row of mullioned windows.
The interior is surprisingly severe and bare.
The central nave is covered by a cross-vault supported by semi-circular columns embellished by original capitals.
One of the most valuable works kept in the church is the wooden Madonna of Constantinople, a major masterpiece of medieval wooden sculpture.
The Church of S. Stefano was built in the 10th and the 11th centuries and enlarged in 1284 according to the new criteria of the Gothic architecture at the request of Cardinal Gottifredo.
The medieval structures have gone lost because of the many rebuilding; only a trefoil door and a lion bearing a cross that decorates the tympanum is left of that era.
On the high altar there is a noteworthy altar-piece depicting the Saints Scolastica, Stefano and Benedetto.
The tower bell is characterized instead by an unusual spindle-like shaped bell, a rare piece of late-medieval craft.
The basilica of S. Paolo is structured like most Roman basilica.
Recorded since the 930, it underwent many rebuilding which gave it its current aspect. It has an imposing façade in stone and bricks.
The interior has a Latin cross plan and is divided in three naves with cross-shaped pillars and a long transept. In the chapel devoted to Sisto I there are the remains of the Pope kept in an ancient lead urn bearing the following inscription: HIC RECONDITUM EST CORPUS S. XISTI PP. PRIMI ET MARTIRIS.
In the right aisle there is a glass case which contains a Host turned to human flesh following an impious act happened in the town in 1227.
The basilica is surrounded by a large public park from which you can admire the spectacular valley of the river Sacco.
The Church of S. Francesco dates back to the second half of the 13th century and was built by some Franciscan friars who erected also an annexed convent.
The Gothic façade is characterized by a large rosette with sixteen small columns differently sculptured.
The baroque interior clashes with the simplicity of the façade.
The entrance wall bears medieval frescoes accompanied by images from the life of St. John the Baptiste and a Madonna with Child on the throne, dating back to the 15th century.
Legend has it that in 1222 St. Francis donated to the town his mantel, a fragment of which is kept in a baroque urn in the presbytery.
Cardinal Gottifredo Raynaldi chose this imposing palace built around mid-13th century as his residence.
Facing the town high street, the palace is made of two tower-houses, different in style and built in different epochs, communicating through a large longitudinal structure.
The original internal structure has been partially destroyed following the collapse of the ogival arcades which supported the central sector of the roof.
Today it houses the Civic Museum in which you can admire many archaeological remains dating to the proto-history and the Roman period.
Among them there are a series of stone inscriptions dating back to the late republican and imperial era, in particular an epigraph of the censor Lucio Betilieno Varo.

Written by:
Tourism Promotion Agency of the Province of Frosinone - Italy (www.apt.frosinone.it)