Anagni

Anagni stands in the hills above the Latin Valley southeast of Rome. Once a religious centre of the Hernici, it later became a bishop's seat and a favoured residence of the popes. Its cathedral and papal palace recall an age when the town was closely tied to the government of the Church.

Anagni was the birthplace of Boniface VIII, who was seized here in 1303 by enemies acting for the French king and the Colonna family. The townspeople freed the pope, but he died soon afterward. The removal of the papal court to Avignon contributed to Anagni's decline, and troops of Werner von Urslingen sacked it in 1348. In 1556 Spanish forces under the Duke of Alba again besieged and plundered the town during war with Pope Paul IV.