Italy, San Giorgio a Liri

The town is located between the Aurunci Mountains and the Liri River, hence its name, and it features the rich landscape of the waters of the Liri and other numerous courses and springs. The old town was formed around the small church of St. George, founded by the monks of the Abbey of Montecassino and destroyed by the Saracens in 846 DC. Throughout the Middle Ages it was part of the Abbey possessions. Until the fifteenth century it was a flourishing village thanks to the excellent economic situation due to the fertility of the soil and the "scafa", the crossing of the Liri River system. This made San Giorgio a transit point in the direction of the important seaside resorts and fees were received. In the fifteenth century it went under the direct sovereignty of the Holy See. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries raids by bandits and the plague determined a dramatic decline in the population. In the seventeenth century a recovery finally was documented by the church of San Rocco. Since the unification of Italy began the phenomenon of emigration. Finally, the town was heavily bombed during the Second World War because it was along the defensive German front, the Gustav line.