Approaching the hills southeast of Rome, visitors to Anagni are immediately drawn to the cathedral area, the site of a legendary medieval scandal. On September 7, 1303, the halls adjacent to this church witnessed the infamous "Slap of Anagni" directed at Pope Boniface VIII.
That confrontation remains the defining event for a municipality long known as the City of the Popes, whose fully frescoed crypt of San Magno has earned the nickname "Sistine Chapel of the Middle Ages". The town produced several pontiffs, including Gregory IX and Alexander IV, serving as their frequent residence. Today, this historic center of the Latin Valley counts 21,441 residents, and its surviving papal architecture offers a direct link to the zenith of medieval church power.
Near Anagni
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
