Antonio Genovesi Farm
via San Francesco, Boville Ernica (FR) Italy
email info@agricolagenovesi.it
mob. +39 347 6941166
VAT no.: 03135300600
Your Extra Virgin Olive Oil
innovators by tradition since 1892
The village, the territory and the olive groves
The name Boville Ernica, recently adopted (Bauco until 1907), is meant to recall the ancient past of the city, first Volscian then Roman, of Bovillae and its belonging to the territory inhabited by the Hernici, an ancient population of Lazio. 11th-12th century.
The village was fortified with an imposing city wall including eighteen towers with circular and square bases just after the year one thousand, but this was not enough to protect it from the plundering of Barbarossa in 1170, and of Henry VI in 1186 and later in 1194 by German troops; however, an enemy assault was repelled by the inhabitants in 1204. This earned the gratitude of Pope Innocent III, who rewarded the town of Babucus with a particular form of administrative autonomy, a sort of oligarchic republic (domini consortes) in which the main families, in turn, every nine months, delegated one of their representatives to administer civil and criminal justice and to govern the community. This form of self-government lasted for over four hundred years until 1583 when Pope Gregory XIII revoked it, placing the town definitively under his direct control until the unification of Italy, when right in Bauco, in a fierce battle, the citizens, united with the bands of Bourbon brigands of Chiavone who dominated the border between the two states, just a few kilometers from the village, repelled the papal troops.
In 1904 Bauco hosted the painter Giovanni Fattori, who depicted in several of his etchings many alleys of the village such as via Cotegallo and via del Lauro. Boville Ernica was fortunately only grazed during the Second World War, not suffering bombings and destruction like some nearby villages and Frosinone itself. It therefore became a place of refuge for many families from the province and from Rome itself. It was precisely between 1941 and 1942 that Maestro Zavattini also stayed in Boville Ernica with his family.
Boville Ernica has been and still is the homeland of many sons who have enriched it culturally with their works and their art. Among these we would like to mention:
Cardinal Ennio Filonardi (1446-1549), connected to the Farnese, Colonna, and Borgia families, served seven popes thanks to his diplomatic and administrative qualities. He was apostolic nuncio in Switzerland and governor of several areas between the Marche, Romagna, and Emilia as well as governor of Castel Sant’Angelo, that is, Minister of War of the Papal State. Thanks to his diplomatic skills, he managed to save some Swiss cantons from the Protestant Reformation. A friend of Benvenuto Cellini, he commissioned him the silver bust of St. Peter the Spaniard, the town’s patron saint, whose feast falls on March 11. He had the chapel of St. Sebastian built, annexed to the church of St. Michael the Archangel, and the church of Madonna delle Grazie (extra moenia).
Mons. Giovanni Battista Simoncelli (1561-1634), who was apostolic prothonotary and friend of Pope Paul V Borghese. For his work at the Holy See in the service of the papal seat, the Pope gave him, during the demolition of the Constantinian Basilica, a mosaic by Giotto depicting an angel, two statues by Bregno, a bas-relief by Sansovino, which remain preserved in the family chapel inside the church of St. Peter the Spaniard. He had the Simoncelli palace built for the Benedictine order with an annexed church of St. John, just outside the inner arch of St. Peter. The palace, now called Palazzo Simoncelli, currently houses the town hall;
Desiderio De Angelis (1743-1811) was a respected poet at the courts of the House of Savoy and the Dukes of Burgundy.
Today Boville Ernica remains the homeland of musicians, scholars, researchers, and scientists who, even though living far from these lands, always carry them in their hearts.
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Antonio Genovesi Farm
via San Francesco, Boville Ernica (FR) Italy
email info@agricolagenovesi.it
mob. +39 347 6941166
VAT No.: 03135300600