Città Dei Papi

The ancient town of Anagni

by Polly74

Anagni appears today as a medieval small town, placed on the ridge of a hill (460 meters above sea level), with small twisting streets and steep lanes everywhere.

It is built inside powerful Roman boundary walls which seem to preserve, like a treasure-chest, its innumerable treasuries of art and history and its troubling modern contradictions.

Initially, the built-up area included only the acropolis - that is the north-east zone comprising the Cathedral, Tufoli gate and Piazza Dante - and partially defended by walls in opus quasi-quadratum (almost squared work). Under the Roman domination, the map of the city changes sensibly, starting from the modification of the boundary walls. The arcaic inhabited places spread out protected by the so-called Servian walls, made with stone blocks placed in alternate lines and dating back to the beginning of the III century b.C. The most part of the boundary walls was subjected to remakes and restorations in the course of the first millennium A.D.; but the most remarkable re-arrangement took place in the XVI century.