The recently adopted name Boville Ernica (Bauco until 1907) refers to the ancient past of the first Volsca then Roman city of Bovillae and the belonging to the territory inhabited by the Ernici, an ancient Lazio population. 11th-12th century.
The village was fortified with an imposing wall including eighteen towers with a circular and square base just after the year one thousand, but this is not enough to protect it from the sackings of Barbarossa in 1170, and of Henry VI in 1186 and subsequently in 1194 by the troops Germanic; an enemy assault is instead rejected by the inhabitants in 1204. This determines the gratitude of Pope Innocent III, who rewards the town of Babucus with a particular form of administrative autonomy, a sort of oligarchic republic (domini consortes) in which the main families take turns, every nine months, they delegate their representative to administer civil and criminal justice and rule the community. This form of self-government will last for over four hundred years until 1583 when Pope Gregory XIII will revoke it, definitively placing the town under his direct control until the unification of Italy, when in Bauco, in a bitter battle the citizens united with the gangs of Bourbon brigands of Chiavone who dominated the border between the two states, just a few kilometers from the village, repel the papal troops.
In 1904 Bauco hosted the painter Giovanni Fattori, who reproduced in several of his etchings many alleys of the village such as via Cotegallo and via del Lauro. Fortunately, Boville Ernica was only touched lightly during the Second World War, not being bombed and destroyed like unfortunately some nearby villages and Frosinone itself. It becomes a place of refuge for many families from the province and from Rome itself. It was between 1941 and 1942 that maestro Zavattini and his family also stayed in Boville Ernica.
Boville Ernica è stata ed è tuttora
patria di molti figli che lo hanno arricchito culturalmente con le loro opere e
con la loro arte. Tra questi vogliamo citare:
Cardinal Ennio Filonardi (1446-1549) linked to the Farnese, Colonna and Borgia families, served seven popes thanks to his diplomatic and administrative qualities. He was apostolic nuncio to Switzerland and governor of various areas between the Marches, Romagna and Emilia, as well as governor of Castel Sant’Angelo or minister of war of the Papal State. Thanks to his diplomatic skills he managed to save some cantons of Switzerland from the Protestant Reformation. A friend of Benvenuto Cellini, he commissioned the silver bust of S. Pietro Ispano, patron saint of the town, whose celebration falls on March 11th. He built the chapel of S. Sebastiano, annexed to the church of S. Michele Arcangelo and the church of the Madonna delle Grazie (extra moenia).
Mons.Giovanni Battista Simoncelli (1561-1634) who was apostolic protronary and friend of Pope Paul V Borghese. For his activity at the Holy See in the service of the papal see, during the demolition of the Constantinian Basilica, the Pope gave him a mosaic by Giotto depicting an angel, two statues by Bregno, a bas-relief by Sansovino, which remain preserved in the noble chapel of his family inside the church of S. Pietro Ispano. He had a Simoncelli palace built for the Benedictine order with an adjoining church of San Giovanni, just outside the internal arch of San Pietro. The building now called Palazzo Simoncelli currently houses the town hall.
Desiderio De Angelis (1743-1811) was an esteemed poet at the courts of the Savoy and the Dukes of Burgundy.
Today Boville Ernica remains home to musicians, scholars, researchers, and scientists who even living far from these lands, always carry them in their hearts.
