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

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and part of the larger

Latin Valley Valle Latina (''Latin Valley'') is an Italian geographical and historical region that extends from the south of Rome to Cassino, corresponding to the eastern area of ancient Roman Latium. The valley's principal cities are Frosinone, Cassino, ...

, located in the

province of Frosinone The Province of Frosinone ( it, Provincia di Frosinone) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy, with 91 '' comuni'' (singular: ''comune''; see Comuni of the Province of Frosinone). Its capital is the city of Frosinone. It has an area o ...

, 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 , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1 ...

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

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan-speaking people, who may have originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they f ...

(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. 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,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 Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first ho ...

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 fibre 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 properties similar to animal wool. ...

. 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, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distribu ...

production centers.

References

Geography of Lazio Geography of Abruzzo