The Valle del Liri (''Liri valley'') is a valley and a geographical region of southern

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

and part of the larger Latin Valley, located in the

province of Frosinone The province of Frosinone () is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Frosinone. It has an area of and a total population of 493,605 (2016). The province contains 91 ''comuni'' (: ''comune''), listed in the ...

, crossed by the

Liri The Liri (Latin Liris or Lyris, previously, Clanis; Greek: ) is one of the principal rivers of central Italy, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea a little below Minturno under the name Garigliano. Source and route The Liri's source is in the ...

river (as well as the Valle Roveto in

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

, which is included in its territory and beyond which it continues into the Lazio region). The main urban center of the area is Sora.

History

Before the Roman conquest and the Latin colonization, the valley was inhabited, by 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 ...

, of Indo-European origin, but unlike the Latins, belonging to the

Osco-Umbrian The Osco-Umbrian, Sabellic or Sabellian languages are an extinct group of Italic languages, the Indo-European languages that were spoken in central and southern Italy by the Osco-Umbrians before being replaced by Latin, as the power of ancient Rom ...

family and therefore culturally closer to the other Italic populations of Apennine Italy. The territory of the

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic peoples, Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan language, Oscan-speaking Osci, people, who originated as an offsh ...

(also Osco-Umbrians) extended to the south. Following the Roman expansion in Lazio, the Liri River initially became the border between the territory under the control of Rome and the Samnite one. In the valley there were several important centers, in particular

Fregellae Fregellae was an ancient town of Latium adiectum, situated on the Via Latina between Aquinum (modern Aquino) and Frusino (now Frosinone), in central Italy, near the left branch of the Liris. History Fregellae was said to have been founded i ...

, Sora and

Arpino Arpino (Southern Latian dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Frosinone, in the Latin Valley, region of Lazio in central Italy, about 100 km SE of Rome. Its Roman name was Arpinum. The town produced two consuls of the ...

. The first two, Latin colonies, were therefore populated with thousands of Latin and / or Roman colonists. After the fall of the Roman Empire the territory became, after the Gothic and Byzantine period, again a border territory between the Byzantine (later papal) domains and the different southern duchies and kingdoms. The main local lordships, which in any case orbited Naples, were the county, (later duchy) of Sora and the

Terra Sancti Benedicti The ''Terra Sancti Benedicti'' ("Land of Saint Benedict") was the secular territory, or seignory, of the powerful Abbey of Montecassino, the chief monastery of the Mezzogiorno and one of the first Western monasteries: founded by Benedict of N ...

,L. Fabiani, ‘’La terra di S. Benedetto: studio storico giuridico sull'Abbazia di Montecassino dall’VIII al XIII secolo’’, Badia di Montecassino, 1968, rist. anastatica, Isola del Liri the latter feudal domain of the

Montecassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient Roman town of Casinum, it is the first house ...

abbey. In 1870 the two banks of the Liri rediscovered their ancient unity, albeit within two different provinces. In 1927 with the creation of the province of Frosinone, the region south of the Liri also became part of Lazio.

Economy

For centuries, since ancient times, the territory was characterized by the processing of

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

. In contemporary times, particularly from the nineteenth century, the Valley was dotted with important

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

production centers.

References

Geography of Lazio Geography of Abruzzo