 Its area was the seat of several Roman patrician towns.In 1088 it is mentioned as "Castrum Pileum"; according to a legend, the name would stem from the Latin "pileum", the helmet of Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus.In that period it depended from the bishop of Anagni and, from the late 12th century, it was first a fief of the De Pileo and then of the De Antiochia families.