Atina (FR)
Encyclopedia
Atina is a town and comune
in the province of Frosinone
, Lazio region of central Italy
.
Economy is mostly based on agriculture (olive oil, wine - including cabernet - and beans).
Cicero
speaks of it as a prosperous country town, which had not as yet fallen into the hands of large proprietors; and inscriptions show that in the Imperial age
it was still flourishing.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire
it was conquered by the Lombards
, becoming part of the Duchy of Benevento
in 702. Later it was ruled by the lords of Capua, the counts of the Marsi
and those of Aquino
, and, together with of most of the Comino Valley
of the County (later Duchy) of Alvito
. It remained part of the Kingdom of Naples
until 1860.
Once a part of the Terra di Lavoro
province, it was included in the province of Frosinone
in 1929.
, of which six other examples have been found in Campania
and Basilicata
.
Other sights include:
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the province of Frosinone
Province of Frosinone
The Province of Frosinone is a province in the Lazio region of Italy, with 91 comuni . Its capital is the city of Frosinone. It has an area of 3,244 km², and a total population of 489,042 .The Province was established by Royal Decree on 6 December 1926 with territories belonging to Lazio...
, Lazio region of central Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Economy is mostly based on agriculture (olive oil, wine - including cabernet - and beans).
History
Atina was a town of the Samnites, later conquered by the RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
speaks of it as a prosperous country town, which had not as yet fallen into the hands of large proprietors; and inscriptions show that in the Imperial age
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
it was still flourishing.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
it was conquered by the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
, becoming part of the Duchy of Benevento
Duchy of Benevento
The Duchy and later Principality of Benevento was the southernmost Lombard duchy in medieval Italy, centred on Benevento, a city central in the Mezzogiorno. Owing to the Ducatus Romanus of the popes, which cut it off from the rest of Lombard Italy, Benevento was from the first practically...
in 702. Later it was ruled by the lords of Capua, the counts of the Marsi
Marsi
Marsi is the Latin exonym for a people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus, drained for agricultural land in the late 19th century. The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. During the Roman Republic the people of the region spoke a...
and those of Aquino
Aquino
Aquino is a town and comune in the province of Frosinone, in the Lazio region of Italy, 12 km northwest of Cassino.-History:The ancient Aquinum was a municipium in the time of Cicero, and made a colony by the Triumviri...
, and, together with of most of the Comino Valley
Comino Valley
The Comino Valley, or Valle di Comino, is a valley located in the province of Frosinone, in central Italy. It runs from San Biagio Saracinisco to Vicalvi and is adjacent to the Abruzzi mountains...
of the County (later Duchy) of Alvito
Duchy of Alvito
The Duchy of Alvito was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Naples, in southern Italy.-Rule of the Cantelmo:The Cantelmo family, of French origins, had arrived in Italy in the 13th century around the time the Angevins conquered Naples...
. It remained part of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
until 1860.
Once a part of the Terra di Lavoro
Terra di Lavoro
Terra di Lavoro is the name of a historical region of southern Italy. It corresponds roughy to the modern southern Lazio and northern Campania regions of Italy....
province, it was included in the province of Frosinone
Province of Frosinone
The Province of Frosinone is a province in the Lazio region of Italy, with 91 comuni . Its capital is the city of Frosinone. It has an area of 3,244 km², and a total population of 489,042 .The Province was established by Royal Decree on 6 December 1926 with territories belonging to Lazio...
in 1929.
Main sights
The walls, of carefully worked polygonal blocks of stone, are still preserved in parts, and the modern town does not fill the whole area which they enclose. One of these last is a boundary stone relating to the assignation of lands in the time of the GracchiGracchi
The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, were Roman Plebian nobiles who both served as tribunes in 2nd century BC. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. For this legislation and their membership in the...
, of which six other examples have been found in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
and Basilicata
Basilicata
Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...
.
Other sights include:
- The GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
Ducal Palace was built in 1349 by Rostaino Cantelmo. The façade has three mullioned windows and an ogival portal with an ancient Roman relief. The "Noble Floor" has a mosaic from the 2nd century BCE. - The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, in BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
style. Was first erected in the 11th century on the remains of a temple dedicated to Saturn. The current Baroque style dates back to the 18th century. It has a nave, two aisles and frescoes of St. John the Baptist, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Transfiguration painted by Teodoro Mancini (1796-1868). - The Convent of St. Francis (17th century), held by Franciscan monks until 1865, when it was abandoned. In 1871 it became property of the municipality of Atina.