One might think the Italian language was born in Florence, or thanks to the poems of the sicilian school. But no, the first form of the Italian language was born in Montecassino in  960.

We are talking about the “Placiti Cassinesi”, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called Italian (or more accurately, vernacular, as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin).

They were written in early Italian between 960 and 963 A.D. and are court proceedings allowing the Benedectines from four abbacies (including the Montecassino Abbey) to reclaim their lands from squatters that had occupied them after the Saracen attacks.