Filettino is a village and ''

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 ...

'' in

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

, Italy, located about east 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 ...

and about north of

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

. Filettino borders the following municipalities: Canistro,

Capistrello Capistrello is a ''comune'' and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central-southern Italy. It is located at the border between the upper Liri River valley and the Marsica. Capistrello borders the following municipalities: Av ...

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Re ...

Castellafiume Castellafiume is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Geography The town is located on the slopes of Mount Aurunzo on the northern side of the Nerfa valley, in Marsica. Its territory is crosse ...

, Civitella Roveto, Guarcino,

Morino Morino is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Geography A town of Abruzzo, Morino is in the center of the Roveto valley, in the Marsica Marsica is a geographical and historical region in the Abru ...

, Trevi nel Lazio and Vallepietra.

History

Originally a place of the

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi ( grc, Αἴκουοι and Αἴκοι) were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early hi ...

, and remaining a tiny hamlet until the 1st century AD, it became a refuge for people fleeing from

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia P ...

invasions in 800 AD, due to its mountainous location. In 1297 it fell under the control of Pietro Caetani, nephew of

Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...

, whose

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

became notorious as cruel and oppressive, crushing various uprisings until the last of the Filettino Caetanis was executed in 1602 at

Castel Sant'Angelo The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum ...

. In the same year it was entered by

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

into the

Apostolic Chamber The Apostolic Camera ( la, Camera Apostolica), formerly known as the was an office in the Roman Curia. It was the central board of finance in the papal administrative system and at one time was of great importance in the government of the Sta ...

and was thus subsequently absorbed into 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 Sovereignty, sovereign rule of ...

until the States themselves were annexed to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and ...

in 1870.

Campaign for independence

In August 2011, following an Italian government announcement that all villages with under 1,000 residents would have to merge with nearby villages in order to cut administrative costs, forcing Filettino to merge with the neighbouring town of Trevi nel Lazio, the village's then mayor Luca Sellari started a campaign for Filettino to become an "independent state".

Notable people

Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's ''Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and during ...

, Italian general and

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

politician

References

External links

Official website

www.filettino.org
{{authority control Micronations in Italy Cities and towns in Lazio