Ciociaria (Italian pronunciation: [tʃotʃaˈriːa]) is the name commonly used, in modern times, for some impoverished territories southeast of Rome, without defined geographical limits.

From the second post-war period, however, the realist and neorealist literary topos, the search for a common Christian Democratic political identity in southern Lazio[17] and in part the suppression of the ecclesiastical province of Capua with the annexation of the dioceses of Monte Cassino, Aquino and Atina to the Roman ecclesiastical province, were the cultural factors that favored, in the common opinion, the spread of that point of view according to which this undefined and non-geographic term to the south reaches the Garigliano (including according to some even the Lazio coast [it]).

Even the local artisanal production, which has historical roots in the much older craftsmanship of Lazio, Campania and Abruzzo is often improperly associated by tourist organizations, promotional events or the press as part of this "ciociara tradition".

Among the best known objects in the artisanal production of the areas south east of Rome that are arbitrarily associated to this recent term there are copper amphoras (called "conca"); wicker and "vinchio" (marshy grass that grows on the slopes of the Aurunci Mounts) woven in the shape of baskets; terracotta amphorae, called "cannate", terracotta jugs made in Aquino and Fiuggi; gold and coral jewellery produced in Alatri, Anagni, Fiuggi, Veroli; works in copper and wrought iron; embroideries, like the embroidered towels and tablecloths of Veroli and Boville Ernica and the religious vestments produced in Anagni.

Alberto Moravia wrote the novel La ciociara on the event, which was made into a successful 1960 movie directed by Vittorio de Sica starring Sophia Loren and a 2015 opera by Marco Tutino.