29/03/2023
ANAGNI, ITALY’S MEDIEVAL HIDDEN TREASURE
Just a short distance south of Rome lies the medieval city of Anagni, one of Italy’s best preserved medieval treasures famous for being the city Popes as four Popes originated from this city.
Amongst the pictures are some photos of the crypt of “San Magnus of Anagni” located beneath the city’s Cathedral and better known to be the “Sistine Chapel” of Anagni, because of its well conserved medieval frescos of the “Creation”.
A particular and scandalous event occurred in this city involving the fourth and last Pope that originated from Anagni, Pope Boniface VII, issued an ordinance of which he self proclaimed the Pope’s absolute supremacy and Power, at that time in history was considered to be the definition of “ really over doing it”, of course his decision did not settle well with King Philip of France that organized an expedition to Anagni to arrest Pope Boniface , the event is better known as the “Slap in the Pope’s face”.
The Pope was captured in his palace in Anagni in 1303, this event marked the end of Anagni’s stronghold, as the seat of the Popes which was eventually transferred to Avignon in France from 1309 to 1377.
The city of Anagni was conquered by the ancient Romans in 306 B.C. and was of strategic and religious importance to the Rome, legend has it that the city of Anagni was one of the five cities in the Lazio region of Italy that was founded by the god “Saturn” and Rome considered Anagni to be an important religious sanctuary where many temples were built including one to the god “Cerere” that was located where the Cathedral of Anagni now stands, the Cathedral dates all the way back to 1072 A.D.
The history of Anagni is vast and intriguing, however today Anagni is a wonderful place to visit and explore and a great way to do it is with World Class Voyager’s “Beyond the Appian Way” tour which will take you on an exciting five day five night travel experience to some of Italy’s most important destinations on and off the paths of the Roman emperors leading to Southern Italy from Rome.
www.worldclassvoyager.com