The city is located in the area inhabited by the Volsci over 2000 years ago. With the arrival of the Romans it was made the Roman settlement of Laterium and there were several villas, including that of Quintus Cicero, brother of the famous orator.
In 580 AD, at the time of the Barbarian invasions, Laterium was occupied by the Lombard troops of Zottone, duke of Benevento, who built a fort on the banks of the river Liri. Around this stronghold he gathered a small community and that was the beginning of the current Fontana Liri.
In 1097 the estate became part of the possessions of the Abbey of Monte Cassino and in the Middle Ages was subjected either to papal authority or to the Kingdom of Naples, who granted it to several illustrious families such as the Conti, the Caetani, the Cantelmos, dukes of Sora and Alvito and the Della Rovere. In 1580 it was sold to Boncompagni who held it until self-government in 1650.
Its location away from the main roads has preserved it from the wars and conflicts.
Here the sculptor Umberto Mastroianni, and the great actor Marcello Mastroianni were born.