Anagni (Italian pronunciation: [aˈnaɲɲi]) is an ancient town and comune in the province of Frosinone, Latium, in the hills east-southeast of Rome.

Several objects made of bone and flint stone and also two human molars and incisors belonging to fossil Homo erectus have been found in Fontana Ranuccio.

The town was located on the acropolis (the north-east zone comprising the Cathedral, Tufoli gate, and Piazza Dante) and partially defended by walls in opus quasi-quadratum (almost squared work).

[citation needed] In 307 BC, the Hernici, with the exception of Aletrium (Alatri), Verulae (Veroli), and Ferentinum (Ferentino) declared war on Rome.

[citation needed] In Imperial times, many emperors spent their summers in Anagni to escape the heat of Rome, the most notable ones being Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Commodus, and Caracalla.

This cathedral, including a hospice, was rebuilt in the 11th century through the effort of bishop Peter of Anagni, who convinced the Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Doukas to provide funds and craftsmen.

[7] The agricultural reconquest, begun in the 10th century, was supported by the ecclesiastic power, which allowed the secular lords to exploit the land and to build fortified settlements for their peasants, favouring new economic and demographic growth.

For this reason, even if the presence of factions inside the town could not be prevented, Anagni remained faithful to the Roman Church, becoming one of the favourite residences of the popes, in the 12th and 13th centuries.

[8] In 1160, Alexander III excommunicated the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the Cathedral; in 1176, after the Battle of Legnano, the same pope received the imperial legates, with whom he elaborated the Pactum Anagninum ("Anagni's Agreement"), premise to the peace, which was achieved in Venice in 1177.

Innocent III is credited with the elaboration and the most complete expression of the theocratic doctrine, the principle according to which absolute rule over every earthly power is ascribed to the Pope.

In September 1230, after the reconciliation, Gregory IX received Frederick II in Anagni, who in the meantime had been able to conquer, without bloodshed but by means of his great diplomatic ability, both Jerusalem and Nazareth.

During his pontificate, Alexander IV (1254–1261), Gregory IX's relative and Anagni's third pope, had to face the heated ecclesiological dispute raised by the University of Paris against the Mendicant Orders.

The leader of this dispute, William of Saint-Amour, had published an anti-mendicant pamphlet, De periculis novissimorum temporum (On the Dangers of the Last Days) between the fall of 1255 and spring of 1256.

After the death of Boniface VIII, both the splendor of Anagni and the dreams of power of the Caetani Family collapsed and the doctrine of ultimate papal suzerainty was weakened.

In 1556, Anagni became a battlefield in the conflict between Pope Paul IV and King Philip II of Spain, when it was besieged by the Spanish army under the Duke of Alba.

The ancient noble mansions embellished by magnificent portals were restructured and, toward the end of the 19th century, also the cultural level of the city rose again, thanks to the growing welfare.

Other institutions and congregations were born, which, together with the constitution of various schools, made Anagni an important centre of study thanks to its long cultural tradition.

The frescoes covering all the walls and ceiling are among the best preserved examples of Romanesque/Byzantine art in Italy, and form a single iconographic scheme, which includes natural philosophy, saints, the Apocalypse, and the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant.

These excavations, which continued in 2007 and 2008, have begun to reveal a large and highly decorated building devoted to wine production as well as the remains of the monastery of S. Pietro in Villamagna.

Today's Standard Italian is influenced by German, French, Arabic, Greek, and Spanish, while the dialect of Anagni and the others of central Italy (south of Rome, west of the Apennines, and north of Campania) are relatively considered solely Latin and pre-Italic, due to the limited settlement of foreign people in the area.