Roccasecca

Roccasecca
Comune
Comune di Roccasecca
View of the historical center of Roccasecca.
Roccasecca Location of Roccasecca in Italy
Coordinates: 41°33′N 13°40′E / 41.550°N 13.667°E / 41.550; 13.667Coordinates: 41°33′N 13°40′E / 41.550°N 13.667°E / 41.550; 13.667
Country	Italy
Region	Lazio
Province / Metropolitan city	Frosinone (FR)
Government
• Mayor	Giuseppe Sacco (since May 2016)
Area
• Total	43 km2 (17 sq mi)
Elevation	245 m (804 ft)
Population (Dec. 2013)
• Total	7,477
• Density	170/km2 (450/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Roccaseccani
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	03038
Dialing code	0776
Website	Official website

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 (St. Thomas of Aquino).

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, whose elevation is 553 metres (1,814 ft), which provides a natural position to control the wide Valle del Liri. Remains of archaic perimeter walling attest to an early fortified presence around the site. Roccasecca served as a way station for ancient Roman legions and invading armies crossing the River Melfa, spanned by three ancient bridges there, of which remains persist. However, the Medieval commune truly began in the early Middle Ages.

It is commonly remembered that St. Thomas Aquinas was born at Roccasecca in 1225, in the castle of his father Landulf, Count of Aquino, which was an important defensive structure that Manso, Abbot of Monte Cassino erected in 994 as part of the outward defenses of the Abbey, it being some kilometres distant. The Abbot entrusted the fortified rocca to a collateral branch of the Counts of Aquino, whose primary seat at Aquino lies 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the south; they retained their custody of the fortification through numerous battles, throughout the centuries.

After the middle of the 16th century, some of the inhabitants descended to the valley to erect permanent housing there, giving rise to the frazioni Roccasecca Centro, Castello, and Caprile. In the ensuing centuries the rocca of Roccasecca passed between the Angevin kings of Naples or the Aragonese, in intermittent contention with the Papal States, for the resulting power over the Valle del Liri. Only in 1583 did Roccasecca gain some permanent security, when the Counts of Aquino sold the rights to Giacomo Boncompagni, Duke of Sora, the illegitimate son of Pope Gregory XIII (born Ugo Boncompagni), who made of it for the first time a Papal fief. In the 17th century Roccasecca fell with the remainder of southern Italy into Spanish Habsburg control. In the 18th century, droughts, disease, and excessive fiscal pressures drastically reduced the number of inhabitants. In the 19th century, the illusory Napoleonic promises of liberty were dissolved in Carbonaria and brigandage.