Velletri

Velletri is an ancient Volscian town on the slopes of the Alban Hills, looking south over the Pontine marshes. In 1342 Nicola Caetani, lord of Fondi, besieged it, and the townsmen held out until help came from Rome, which then imposed a podestà on them until a settlement in 1374 made the podestà a six-monthly office. The Torre del Trivio, the symbol of the city, was inaugurated on 15 April 1353.

Velletri's crossbowmen, some of the best in Italy, were its pride. In 1434 Pope Eugenius IV razed the castle of Lariano with the help of 800 Velletri soldiers and gave its lands to the commune. On 21 August 1482, during the Salt War, 250 crossbowmen of a Velletri contingent of 500 fought for the pope at Campomorto, on the marshy ground by the town, and were rewarded for it. In 1512 the nine priors, elected every six months, still governed a free commune, but in 1553 Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa, the future Paul IV, was made bishop-governor, and by 1591 the free commune was finished.