Piglio is located in a panoramic position on a spur of Mount Scalambra on the old Roman road across the Appennines. Its origins date back to Ernici of which there are few remains, but many legends.
In the second century BC, the territory was conquered by the Romans who established many houses in the lower part of the valley, where the Second Punic War, the fierce battle between the Romans and Hannibal's army, was fought.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the population sought refuge in a castrum on a spur of the mountain. The Pileum Castrum name appears officially in 1088 in a bull of Pope Urban II and according to legend, the name comes from Pileum, the Roman helmet that would fall due to a strong wind from the commander Quintus Fabius Maximus the ‘Cunctator’ (or procrastinator) as he passed in the territory.
The history of Piglio is connected with that of Frederick II of Swabia, thanks to one of his illegitimate sons, Conrad of Antioch, who ruled the town.
In Piglio centuries passed under the control of the Caetani, of Conrad of Antioch, the Colonna, the Orsini, Borgia and finally back to the Colonna.
In 1656 the population was decimated by the plague, which, according to legend, was arrested by the miraculous image of the "Madonna of the Roses". The anniversary is still celebrated today every year on October 30th.
The town was destroyed twice: it was burned down by French soldiers of Napoleon's army and bombed by the Allies during World War II.
The town center retains its herringbone structure and the houses, built on a steep slope on the edges of the hill had defensive functions, in the absence of boundary walls.
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