Aquino, Italy

Aquino
Comune
Comune di Aquino

Church of Santa Maria della Libera.

Coat of arms
Aquino

Location of Aquino in Italy

Coordinates: 41°30′N 13°42′E / 41.500°N 13.700°E / 41.500; 13.700Coordinates: 41°30′N 13°42′E / 41.500°N 13.700°E / 41.500; 13.700
Country Italy
Region Lazio
Province Frosinone (FR)
Government
 • Mayor Antonino Grincia
Area
 • Total 19 km2 (7 sq mi)
Elevation 106 m (348 ft)
Population (1 December 2009)
 • Total 5,369
 • Density 280/km2 (730/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Aquinati
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 03031
Dialing code 0776
Patron saint Saints Thomas Aquinas and Constantius of Aquino
Saint day March 7 and September 1
Website Official website

Aquino is a town and comune in the province of Frosinone, in the Lazio region of Italy, 12 kilometres (7 mi) northwest of Cassino.

History

The town had been founded in the 4th century BC by the Volsci, who successfully defended it against Samnite invasions, before the Roman conquest. The ancient Aquinum was a municipium in the time of Cicero, and made a colony by the Triumviri. It was crossed by the Via Latina.

Aquinum is thought to be the birthplace of the poet Juvenal, and was that of the emperor Pescennius Niger.

The earliest recorded Catholic Bishop of Aquino was Bishop Giovino in 593AD.

Aquino's patron saint is Saint Constantius of Aquino (San Costanzo).[1]

Saint Thomas Aquinas (otherwise Thomas of Aquino) was born in 1225 in the castle of Roccasecca, 8 kilometres (5 mi) northwards.

Main sights

One of the gates through which the Via Latina passed, now called Porta San Lorenzo, is still well preserved, and there are remains within the walls (portions of which, built of large blocks of limestone, still remain) of two (so called) temples, a basilica and an amphitheatre.

Outside, on the south is a well-preserved 1st century BC triumphal arch with composite capitals, known as Arco di Marcantonio, and close to it the basilica of Santa Maria Libera, a 9th-century building in the Romanesque style erected over the remains of an ancient temple of Hercules Liberator, now roofless. Several Roman inscriptions are built into it, and many others that have been found indicate the ancient importance of the place, which, though it does not appear in early history, is vouched for by Cicero and Strabo.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Different from Saint Constantius of Perugia
  2. ↑ According to H. Nissen, Ital. Landeskunde (Berlin, 1902), ii. 665, a road ran from here to Minturnae; but no traces of it are to be seen.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aquino". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

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