In 1298, Pope Boniface VIII had a canal dug to connect the Ninfa River with the Cavata River, which drained much of the land in the Dukedom of Sermoneta, recently bought by his nephews. The increase in water in the Cavata caused severe flooding in the marsh near Sezze. Before he died in 1447, Pope Eugene IV attempted to solve the now-longstanding water dispute between Sermoneta and Sezze by digging another canal to connect and control the rivers of those regions, but the project ended when he died.