Picinisco

Picinisco is a municipality located on a rocky rise 725 metres above sea level in Comino Valley, with an area of 6,000 hectares, much of which belongs to the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park.

The Mount Meta, a mountain range stretching from the Sangro to the Volturno, rises with peaks exceeding 2,000 metres, and with its sheer flanks, divides the panorama into two sectors: one towards the Abruzzo-Molise side and the other towards the Lazio side.

The most important peaks are Monte Petroso (2,249 m), Monte Altare (2,174 m), Monte Tartaro (2,191 m), Torretta di Paradiso (1,976 m), Monte a Mare (2,124 m), Metuccia (2,105 m), Monte Forcellone (2,030 m), Monte Cavallo (2,039 m) and Monte Mare (2,020 m).

History and origin of the name Picinisco

The name of Picinisco is uncertain, but there is evidence of ancient human presence with inscriptions and polygonal walls of the Samnites and Romans.

During the Middle Ages, the municipality followed the fate of the nearby towns of Atina and Alvito, of which it was part of the political jurisdiction. The first document that mentions Picinisco dates back to 1017, when the princes of Capua Pandolfo III and Pandolfo IV granted the church of San Valentino, located on the borders of the Contea Cominense, to the Monastery of Montecassino. In 1054, the town was encastellated by Oderisio II and Rainaldo III, counts of the Marsi.

The territory of Picinisco became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in June 1150, when Roger the Norman conquered southern Italy for the crown of Naples. For three centuries, from 1193 to 1503, various foreign dynasties, including Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, French and Spanish, caused upheavals, wars and turmoil in the Cominense territory.

During the succession of dynasties on the throne of Naples, the districts of the Cominense were ceded to different lineages, with Picinisco passing between the d'Aquino, Cantelmo, Borgia, Navarro, Cadorna, Matteo di Capua and finally to the Gallio.

In the 16th century, the presence of brigands in Picinisco (from 1590) threatened the peace of the area. At the end of the 18th century, this phenomenon also recurred, but with a different character, after the unification of Italy. In 1927, the fascist regime carried out a vast administrative reform and transferred Picinisco from the province of Terra di Lavoro to the Lazio region, making it part of the new province of Frosinone.