Roccasecca

Roccasecca is a town and comune in the province of Frosinone, in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is the birthplace of St. Thomas Aquinas.

History

The history of Roccasecca is tightly bound to its strategic position, a "dry rocca" at the entrance to two narrow defiles that give access to the Valle di Comino, below the slopes of Monte Asprano, elevation 553 metres (1,814 ft), which provides a natural position to control the wide Valle del Liri. Remains of archaic perimeter walling attest to early fortified presence around the site. Roccasecca served as a way station for Roman legions and invading armies crossing the River Melfa, spanned by three ancient bridges here, of which remains persist, but the commune had its real beginnings in the early Middle Ages.

It is commonly remembered that Thomas Aquinas was born at Roccasecca, in 1225, in the castle of his father Landulf, count of Aquino, an important defensive structure that had been erected by Manso, abbot of Monte Cassino in 994, as part of the outward defenses of the abbey, some kilometres distant. The Abbot placed in charge of the fortified rocca a collateral branch of the counts of Aquino, whose main seat at Aquino lies 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the south; they retained their hold on the place through numerous battles, through the centuries.