From Roma Termini to Anagni – A dive into the Middle Ages

Is Rome enough for a trip? Well yes, you never stop discovering Rome, there are some corners and secrets that not even those of us who live there know about. So yes, Rome could be enough for a trip of even a month… But near Rome there are some real treasures to visit, they call them “Italian B-Side”, little known outside the national borders and sometimes even outside the region. Some of these have their roots in history, they have made history not only in Rome or Italy, but in the world. An example? Anagni.

Anagni, known as the city of the popes, is only 1 hour by train from Rome. Especially for those staying in our hotel a stone’s throw from Termini station, the day trip is a rather easy undertaking. But let’s go back to Anagni. It is called the city of the Popes because it was the birthplace of 4 popes, Innocent III, Alexander IV, Gregory IX and Boniface VIII, the pope hated by Dante Alighieri and mentioned several times in the Divine Comedy.< /p>

A particularly interesting personality, that of Boniface VIII, also known as the last of the medieval popes, for his great attention to politics and the territorial expansion of the church. A pope who, according to Dante, had propitiated his election first with deception, making Celestine V renounce his position, and then with corruption, through the buying and selling of ecclesiastical positions. For this reason Dante places him in the group of “simonacs” even though Boniface was not yet dead.

But Anagni is also the city from which the excommunication of Frederick Barbarossa and the famous “Anagni slap” began, a very important episode that preceded the death of Boniface himself and the beginning of the period of the Avignon papacy.

In short, a set of incredible historical events that took place around 1300 in splendid medieval buildings that can still be visited in Anagni, such as the Cathedral of Anagni, site of the “Schiaffo”, and the palace of Boniface VIII.

Absolutely worth seeing is the marvelous Crypt of San Magno, a 1100 work unique in the world.

We recommend bringing with you a book about this story, or even the Divine Comedy itself, and stopping to eat the typical Ciociaria cuisine.

We remind you that if you want to leave very early in the morning, at the Hotel Alpi we will prepare breakfast for you to take with you!