Priverno


Priverno is a town, comune and former Latin Catholic bishopric in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. It was called Piperno until 1927.
It has a station of the Rome-Naples railway mainline. Nearby is the Monti Lepini chain. It was the birthplace of the canonist Reginald of Piperno.

History

Privernum is described by Livy as a flourishing Volscian site, which was conquered and destroyed by the Romans in the late 4th century BC. The Appian Way passed nearby. The town recovered under the Roman rule, but disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, probably destroyed by Saracen attacks.
It was later a minor center of the Papal States, to which it belonged until the capture of Rome in 1870.

Ecclesiastical History

In 760 was established the Diocese of Priverno alias Piperno.
From 1217.01.17 it was held in personal union with the Terracina until 1986.09.30, when it was suppressed and both had their title and territory merged into the Diocese of Latina–Terracina–Sezze–Priverno.
At least since 1180, all bishops concurrently held the sees of Sezze and Roman Catholic Diocese of Terracina, since 1217 due to the personal union with Terracina.
Its Marian former cathedral remains a Co-Cathedral: Concattedrale di S. Maria, in Priverno.

Main sights

Nearby is the famous Abbey of Fossanova, which is where the town's patron saint, St. Thomas Aquinas died on 7 March 1274.
Notable churches :
Lay buildings include the Villa Gallio, a residence of Cardinal Bartolomeo Gallio, the Communal Palace, with the Dolphin Fountain by Giuseppe Olivieri and the Porta San Marco and Porta Posterola, the only remains of the seven gates once giving access to Priverno. Remains of the old Privernum are outside the town, including parts of the walls, baths, three patrician houses and a temple. Here a colossal statue of Tiberius was found in the late 18th century.