Priverno

Ancient Privernum was a Volscian city which Livy describes as flourishing, and which the Romans conquered and destroyed at the end of the fourth century BC; it revived under Rome and vanished after the fall of the empire, probably through Saracen attacks. Its remains lie outside the modern town: stretches of wall, the baths, three patrician houses and a temple, and it was there, at the end of the eighteenth century, that a colossal statue of Tiberius was found which is now in the Vatican Museums. Even its concrete has come under examination: studying the concrete of Privernum, researchers concluded that the use of quicklime made the Roman mixture more durable than the one we make today.

The town's saint is Thomas Aquinas, who died on 7 March 1274 at the abbey of Fossanova, just outside the town; in the former cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta his skull is kept, together with the panel of the Madonna d'Agosto. From here came also Reginald of Piperno, who was Thomas's companion and secretary — and Piperno was the town's own name, which it bore until 1927. At Gricilli lie the Bishop's lakes, small pools of thermal water of volcanic origin, rich in sulphur: local people say the larger one has no bottom.