Giuliano di Roma

Here there is no water on the surface: the ground is karst, the streams run underneath and come back up as springs at several points. The first certain notice of the village is of 1125 and comes from the chronicle of Fossanova: in that year pope Honorius II came with his army to «Julianum» and burned it, together with other villages near by. The counts of Ceccano, who were the lords of these lands, were backing the antipope; after the expedition three of them swore fealty to the pontiff. That line does two things at once: it says the village was there, and that it was already called Giuliano. As to why that name, several hypotheses have been put forward, and none so far has convinced.

In 1165 the village was sacked twice in the same year: first by the troops of Frederick Barbarossa, then by the papal troops who took it back. Then the wind changed: Innocent III was related to the Ceccano, gave them their lands back, and in 1208 stopped here on his way to the abbey of Fossanova — the count laid on banquets and tournaments for him, which the chronicle describes down to the detail. The old centre still keeps its medieval plan, with narrow lanes and arches overhead, but of that period only the bell tower of the parish church is left standing; the houses have their outside stairs, and every so often you come across a stone doorway with a family's arms carved into it. In 1813 Maria Caterina Troiani was born here, later beatified.