The Province of Frosinone ( it, Provincia di Frosinone) is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, with 91 ''

comuni The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (singular: ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

''; see

Comuni of the Province of Frosinone The following is a list of the 91 municipalities (''comuni'') of the Province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. List See also *List of municipalities of Italy References {{Province of Frosinone Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town a ...

). Its capital is the city of Frosinone. It has an area of and a total population of 493,605 (2016). The Province was established by Royal Decree on 6 December 1926 with territories belonging to the then provinces of Rome and Caserta. The areas of the then province of Caserta were the left valley of the Liri-Garigliano river, the district of Sora, the

Comino Valley The Valle di Comino () is a valley in the province of Frosinone, in Lazio in central Italy. It runs from San Biagio Saracinisco to Vicalvi and is adjacent to the Abruzzi mountains. It grossly corresponds to the upper valley of the Melfa river, ...

, the district of Cassino, the Gulf of

Formia Formia is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean coast of Lazio, Italy. It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way. It has a population of 38,095. Istat 2017 History ...

and Gaeta, the

Pontine islands The Pontine Islands (, also ; it, Isole Ponziane ) are an archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Lazio region, Italy. The islands were collectively named after the largest island in the group, Ponza. The other islands in the archipe ...

, which until then had been for centuries included in the Province called Terra di Lavoro, of the Kingdom of Naples (or of the Two Sicilies). Most of these territories were part of the ancient Latium adiectum.

Geography

The province largely follows the territory of the low and middle Latin Valley, a larger region that extends from south of Rome to Cassino. In the eastern area, on the other hand, the

extends along the border with Abruzzo. The territorial boundaries are mostly marked by mountain ranges: the Ernici Mountains to the north and the Lepini Mountains to the southwest, the Ausoni and Aurunci Mountains to the south, the Mainarde to the northeast. The mountain system of the territory of the province of Frosinone follows the natural development of the mountain ranges of the Italian peninsula; the two main systems are part of the central Apennines to the north, and the Lazio pre-Apennines to the south, divided by the low and middle Latin Valley crossed by the Sacco and Liri rivers.

History

The first traces of human presence in the provincial territory date back to prehistoric times: a famous skull of '' Homo erectus'' ('' Homo cepranensis'', in the Prehistorical Museum of Pofi), dating from 800,000 years ago, constitutes the most ancient finding of the ''Homo'' species in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. In historical times (10th-9th centuries BC), the area, previously occupied by the so-called Pelasgic civilization, was settled by

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

colonists. This arrival is referred to in numerous legends, such as those of

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

and Saturn. The latter, ousted by Olympus, was said to come to Lazio to help the men and found seven cities whose name begins with "A" (for example, Alatri and

Anagni Anagni () is an ancient town and ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Latium, central Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome. It is a historical and artistic center of the Latin Valley. Geography Overview Anagni still maintains the appear ...

). In the 7th century BC the area of what is now the province entered the orbit of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, which made it the so-called Latium adiectum ("Adjoined Lazio"). However, Rome needed some 300 years to obtain a definitive victory against the

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

and the

Hernici The Hernici were an Italic tribe of ancient Italy, whose territory was in Latium between the Fucine Lake and the Sacco River (''Trerus''), bounded by the Volsci on the south, and by the Aequi and the Marsi on the north. For many years of the ear ...

. The territory was colonized by thousands of Latins and Romans without citizenship, unlike the areas on the coast where there were mainly small colonies of Roman citizens. Also, the original inhabitants became Romanized after the

Social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

and the Samnite Wars. After the fall of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

, the northern part of the province (officially referred to as Campagna since the 12th century) belonged to the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

, while the region south of the Liri orbited around the powers of Benevento and then Naples. In the Middle Ages, the abbey of

Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first ho ...

was always a major landowner and a politically renowned element of the area. The southeastern part was a frontier area which was long claimed by the other major powers of the time, the Duchies of Benevento and Gaeta and the

County of Aversa In 1030, the first Norman foothold in the Mezzogiorno was created when Sergius IV of Naples gave the town and vicinity of Aversa as a county to Ranulf. The following are the counts of Aversa: *Rainulf I 1030–1045 * Asclettin 1045 (nephew of pr ...

: annexed to the Kingdom of Naples under the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

(12th century), from the late 14th century it became part of the county and then, with an independent status, of the

Duchy of Sora The Duchy of Sora was a semi-independent state in Italy, created in 1443 by King Alfonso I of Naples and dissolved in 1796. It occupied the south-eastern part of what is today Lazio, bordering what is now Abruzzo. Its capital was first Sora, a ...

Pontecorvo Pontecorvo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Its population is c. 13,200. History The village lies under Rocca Guglielma, a medieval fortification perched on an inaccessible spur. Its name derives from the ''p ...

remained a Papal enclave from 1463. After the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

, in 1927 the Fascist government made Frosinone the capital of a province which unified different that which belonged to the Papal and Neapolitan states. This action generated criticism, as these states were considered too different in history, language and culture, especially by the Bourbon-nostalgic party that maintained a strong position in southern Italy for many decades. The creation of a new province, with capitals in Cassino,

and Sora, and comprising the former territories of the Kingdom of Naples, has been proposed.

Main ''comuni''

As of 31 December 2014,Statistiche demografiche ISTAT
the main ''comuni'' by population are:

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frosinone, Province of Provinces of Italy States and territories established in 1926