HISTORICAL PLACES
FONDI
Circumscribed by Ausoni Mounts and by Aurunci ones in its northern
part and by the Tyrrhenian Sea at south. A legend tells that Fondi was founded by Hercules fifty years before the Troy war. It was invaded by Longobards and destroyed by Saracens in the 846 A.C. This town was a Dukedom and a Medieval City, at the first, and later it passed under the Naples dominium. After that it was reined by Caetani family and during
this period the town lived many problems with the Catholic Church but,
at the same, it was the richest period of its history.
TERRACINA
Terracina is situated at the southern part of the Pontina Plain at the feet of Ausoni Mounts, it composed by two parts: the ancient and medieval part on the low hill and the modern one near the sea. The town is older than Rome. The legend tells that a group of Spartans built the city. The Etruscans
founded the port and the Cyclopean Walls, while the Volsci changed the
name of the town from Terracina in Anxur, like the name of their protector deus.
SPERLONGA
It’s a little Centre on a little mountain which arrives just on the beach. Its origins are Romans like the many archeological ruins witness. The name, Sperlonga, derives from “Spelonca” (cave), for a lot of natural little caves that it’s possible to see on the cliffs near the town. The most famous of these caves is the Tiberius one, from the name of the Roman Emperor, near which he had a villa where he used to spend the summer holiday with his family. Now it’s a archeological museum.
It’s also possible to see the four towers which defended the city from the pirates.
GAETA
Gaeta is situated at the feet of Orlando Mount, it’s an ancient fortress and it’s still fortified for a little part. The homonymous gulf and the streets that bring you to this town offer wonderful landscapes.
SAN FELICE CIRCEO
Thanks to the discovery of the skull of a Neanderthal man into a cave, it demonstrated that this city was lived from prehistoric age. The legend says that it was lived by the beautiful Circe sorceress, like the same name, who transformed into pigs the fellow-travellers of Ulysses. At the beginning it was a “Volsca” city and later it became a Roman colony. San Felice Circeo was destroyed by Goti, by Ostrogoti and by Saracens but it was built again by Popes. From the highest point of the mount, where it is, the Circe’s pike, it’s possible to sse the large beach of Fondi, Sperlonga, Gaeta’s mountains, Ninfa and Sezze and the beautiful Pontinian Islands.
