 Originally a place of the Aequi, and remaining a tiny hamlet until the 1st century AD, it became a refuge for people fleeing from Saracen invasions in 800 AD, due to its mountainous location.In 1297 it fell under the control of Pietro Caetani, nephew of Pope Boniface VIII, whose family became notorious as cruel and oppressive, crushing various uprisings until the last of the Filettino Caetanis was executed in 1602 at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome.In the same year it was entered by Pope Clement VII into the Apostolic Chamber and was thus subsequently absorbed into the Papal States until the States themselves were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1870.