Off The Beaten Path: Isola del Liri Italy

Would you like to enjoy a beatiful town that has yet to be over run with other tourists? Isola del Liri is an inland island about 60 miles south of Rome. And the only Italian town with two waterfalls within the old city limits.

The town is totally surrounded by water from the river Liri which forks out northeast of the city only to merge again a few miles further south.

The island has been known from pre-Roman times. It has been mentioned by Plinio the Elder and Dante. Some claim Cicero, the writer who has tortured every student of Latin, had his villa right outside town. And for many years it was the center of the mid-Italian paper industry.

Sadly, the town and the area suffered severe destruction during WWII, but Isola del Liri has recovered. In 2008 it was classified as ‘area di elevato benessere, istruzione superiore e sistema locale organizzato’, which is a mark of distinction for Italian municipalities indicating that the 12 000 people living on the island are doing well in terms of education, economy and infrastructure.

So you do not have to sit at a café enjoying the view of Cascata Grande with a vertical fall of 75 feet to find Isola del Liri attractive. But it definitely helps. And after a short walk along the main street through the historical center to the other smaller Cascata del Valcatoio waterfall I was whirled along and wanted to stay in Isola del Liri for as long as possible.

The town's main sight is the Castello Boncompagni-Viscogliosi, a fortified palace near two waterfalls, Cascata Grande and Cascata del Valcatoio, each about 98 feet high, and a bridge on river. It is mentioned for the first time in 1100. After the acquisition of the Duchy of Sora by the della Rovere family, it became one of their main residences. It was also housed by their successors as dukes, the Boncompagni; in the 17th century Costanza Sforza turned into a luxurious palace, with biblica frescoes and basreliefs of the duchy's lands, as well as a garden.

Of Volscan origin, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire Isola del Liri was ruled by the Byzantines and then the Lombards. Later it was part of the Duchy of Sora, becoming a ducal seat under the Boncompagni family. In 1796 it was annexed to the Papal States.

The city fell in the Middle Ages, alternatively, under the rule of the Byzantine and Lombard, until it became part of the county of Sora in the Principality of Capua. Isola del Liri was the feud of the dell'Isola (de Insulae) of the twelfth century to the fourteenth century. Among the famous personalities of this family, were Roffredo dell'Isola, Abbot of Monte Cassino, Count d'Arce, and Bartholomew dell'Isola who enjoyed the honors in the seat of Capuano Naples. At the end of the fourteenth century, Isola del Liri was ceded to the Cantelmo family.

It was once in the old Terra di Lavoro region of Campania, but was transferred into Lazio during the Fascist period.

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