After the middle of the sixteenth century, some of the inhabitants descended to the valley to erect permanent housing there, giving rise to the frazioni Roccasecca Centro, Castello, and Caprile. In the ensuing centuries the rocca of Roccasecca passed between the Angevin kings of Naples or the Aragonese, in intermittent contention with the Papal States, for the resulting power over the Valle del Liri. Only in 1583 did Roccasecca gain some permanent security, when the Counts of Aquino sold the rights to Giacomo Boncompagni, Duke of Sora, the illegitimate son of Pope Gregory XIII (born Ugo Boncompagni), who made of it for the first time a Papal fief.