 Under the Roman Republic it was a summer resort for Roman patricians, who built luxurious villas in the area to escape the heat of Rome.In 846 AD, Bovillae - until then the largest settlement - was destroyed by the Saracens, and the population moved to the more easily defendable area of Ferentum, which was fortified under the new name of Marinum.From 1090 it was a dominium of the Counts of Tusculum, and later a fief of the Frangipane and, beginning in 1266, the Orsini.