What is Boville Ernica known for?

The Angelo del Navicella, a fragment from Giotto's mosaic at old St. Peter's; the only surviving Giotto mosaic, held at the abbey of San Pietro Ispano. Intact medieval walls with eighteen turrets alternating round and square in plan, raised over earlier Ernician walls after the tenth-century raids. Città dell'Olio, hill groves of Itrana and Frantoio in the Sacco-Liri basin, harvested late October through December.

When is the best time to visit Boville Ernica?

Apr–Oct. April through June and September through October are the months for Boville Ernica. The Sacco valley clears, the hill groves stay cool, and the eighteen-tower walls hold light in the late afternoon. July and August touch thirty-three on the valley floor but moderate on the hilltop. November through March is quiet, with mist on the Sacco below and the abbey of San Pietro Ispano open on request. The olive harvest runs late October into December and the new oil appears in the local frantoi in November.

Where is Boville Ernica?

Boville Ernica is a comune in the province of Frosinone, Lazio region of Italy, about 68 kilometers from Latina.

How do I get to Boville Ernica?

From Latina, Boville Ernica is roughly 68 km by road.

Lazio · Frosinone

Boville Ernica

A Ciociaria hilltop town with eighteen intact medieval towers and Giotto's only surviving mosaic, the Angelo del Navicella, in San Pietro Ispano.

Known for

GIOTTO'S ANGEL
The Angelo del Navicella, a fragment from Giotto's mosaic at old St. Peter's; the only surviving Giotto mosaic, held at the abbey of San Pietro Ispano.
EIGHTEEN TOWERS
Intact medieval walls with eighteen turrets alternating round and square in plan, raised over earlier Ernician walls after the tenth-century raids.
CIOCIARIA OLIVE
Città dell'Olio, hill groves of Itrana and Frantoio in the Sacco-Liri basin, harvested late October through December.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

Why come

Boville Ernica sits above the Sacco and Liri valleys in Ciociaria, in the province of Frosinone. The Ernici, an Italic tribe contemporary with the Volsci, gave the place its second name, added in 1900 to distinguish it from another Bauco. The medieval walls of the borgo still carry eighteen turrets, alternating round and square in plan, all standing.

The Abbazia di San Pietro Ispano, built over the cave of a Spanish pilgrim-saint in the twelfth century, holds the Angelo del Navicella, a fragment of Giotto's mosaic of Christ walking on water from the old St. Peter's atrium. It is the only surviving mosaic work by Giotto.

Cardinal Ennio Filonardi, a sixteenth-century papal nuncio born in Boville, built the Palazzo Filonardi over the medieval castle and reorganized the urban plan around it. The hills above town are signed Città dell'Olio. Pre-Roman polygonal walls at Monte Fico above the town record the deeper Ernician layer.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Boville Ernica’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

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What to see

Abbazia di San Pietro Ispano
Twelfth-century abbey over the grotto of San Pietro Ispano, holding the only surviving Giotto mosaic, the Angelo del Navicella from old St. Peter's.
Mura medievali
Intact medieval circuit with eighteen towers alternating round and square in plan, raised after the Saracen and Hungarian raids of the tenth century.
Palazzo Filonardi
Sixteenth-century palace built by Cardinal Ennio Filonardi over the medieval castle, anchor of the renaissance reorganization of the centro storico.
Mura poligonali (Monte Fico)
Pre-Roman megalithic walls on Monte Fico above town, built by the Ernici to defend a hill village with a place of worship.
Oliveti
Hills above the centro storico signed Città dell'Olio, growing the local Itrana and Frantoio cultivars of the Frosinone basin.

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Living here

Population 8,366
Commuter belti
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Nearest airport Naples / Salerno, 1 h 38 min drive
Regional capital Roma, 1 h 26 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 450 m
Population: 8,366
Surface area: 28.19 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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