Cisterna di Latina

Sister cities

• Grombalia
• Fort Smith

History

At Finocchione, in the territory of Cisterna, traces of prehistoric human presence have been discovered. In historic times, the Volsci founded here their still unidentified centre called Ulubrae, although the lost city of Suessa Pometia could also have been located nearby. Ulubrae is mentioned by Horace, Pliny the Elder, Suetonius, Cicero and Juvenal, referring to the numerous patrician villas built here. According to Suetonius, Augustus lived here in his family villa until the age of eighteen. In 307, emperor Flavius Severus was assassinated here by Heraclius, by order of rival usurper Maxentius. The barbarian invasions in Italy caused further expansions of the marshes, and Tres Tabernae declined until, in 592, pope Gregory I united its diocese to that of Velletri. Later in the high Middle Ages, Tres Tabernae was ravaged several times by the Saracens, until it was completely destroyed in 868. The inhabitants moved to a small hill nearby, which is mentioned for the first time around 1000 AD as Terra di Cisterna, which, according to tradition, stemmed from Cisterna Neronis ("Nero's Cistern). An ancient cistern still exits today under the Palazzo Caetani at the top of the hill. Cisterna housed a Benedictine abbey dedicated to St. Eleutherius (later abandoned) and was a fief of the Counts of Tusculum, who ceded it to the Frangipani in 1146. The latter reinforced it with a line of walls and a rocca (castle). In 1159 Pope Alexander III fled here to escape emperor Frederick Barbarossa who, in retaliation, destroyed the borough, which was later rebuilt by the Frangipani. In 1328 it was again besieged and ravaged by emperor Louis IV. In 1504 Pope Julius II assigned Cisterna to the Caetani. Their member Bonifacio Caetani renewed the city and, after demolishing it, rebuilt the…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  148
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  137
• Laurustinus

  Viburnum tinus L. · Magnoliopsida
  92
• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  89
• Tree-of-Heaven

  Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle · Magnoliopsida
  88
• Italian Sparrow

  Passer italiae (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  87
• Eurasian Kestrel

  Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  87
• Eurasian Blackcap

  Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  84

Most recent

• M 4.4 — 2026-07-24
  5 km WNW of Pizzone, Italy
• M 2.7 — 2025-05-08
  1 km NNE of Montecompatri, Italy
• M 4.1 — 2024-12-09
  3 km SSE of Formia, Italy
• M 3.1 — 2020-05-11
  7 km NNW of Rome, Italy
• M 4.6 — 2019-11-07
  2 km SW of Villavallelonga, Italy
• M 3.4 — 2019-06-23
  1 km WSW of Gallicano nel Lazio, Italy