Aquino (FR)
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Aquino (FR) (anc. Aquinum): A town and commune now part the province of Frosinone, in southern Lazio. Prior to the 1920s it was politically part of the region of Campania and within the borders of the former kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ancient Aquinum was a large prosperous Roman colony situated on the Via Latina. Among the famous natives it produced were the Roman satirist, Juvenal, and Pescennius Niger, one of the rivals who battled over the Roman throne after the death of Pertinax.
During the years following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Aquinum suffered greatly from the barbarian invasions. Later, it was caught in the middle of wars between the Papal Guelfs and the Imperial Ghibellines. By the time order was restored, the once prosperous city was reduced to a mere village with a population of only a few hundred. Despite this calamity, the place still retained its status as a bishop’s see and was the seat of a county. The family which held the title of Count of Aquino produced St. Thomas Aquino, one of the great Doctors of the Catholic Church.