Formia is a city and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

province of Latina The Province of Latina ( it, Provincia di Latina) is an area of local government at the level of province in the Republic of Italy. It is one of five provinces that form the region of Lazio. The provincial capital is the city of Latina. It is bo ...

, on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

coast of

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is located halfway between

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, and lies on the Roman-era

Appian Way The Appian Way ( Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name ...

. It has a population of 38,095. Istat 2017

History

The so-called Tomb of Cicero, Formia (14358511388)

The city of Formia was originated by the Italic population of the

Aurunci The Aurunci were an Italic tribe that lived in southern Italy from around the 1st millennium BC. They were eventually defeated by Rome and subsumed into the Roman Republic during the second half of the 4th century BC. Identity Aurunci is the n ...

. It appeared for the first time in history in 338 BC, when, during the Latin Wars, it received the Civitas sine suffragio, together with the city of

Fondi Fondi ( la, Fundi; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and '' comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady popu ...

. Throughout antiquity, the city of

Caieta In Roman mythology, Caieta ( grc, Καιήτη, ''Cāiēta'') was the wet-nurse of Aeneas. The Roman poet Vergil locates her grave on the bay at Gaeta, to which she also gives her name (''cf.'' Caietae Portus). The poet Ovid, working a generati ...

was also part of the Formian territory. In the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

era it was called ''Formiae'' (derived from ''Hormia'' or ''Ormiai'', for its excellent landing). It was a renowned resort during the imperial era and

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

calls it "the city of the Mamurrae" as the rich and noble

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

family of Mamurra had stong interests there, including the villa-estate nearby at Gianola which can still be seen.

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

also had a villa there and he was assassinated on the Appian Way just outside the town in 43 BC, and his tomb remains a minor tourist destination. The city was also the seat of

St. Erasmus Erasmus of Formia, also known as Saint Elmo (died c. 303), was a Christian saint and martyr. He is venerated as the patron saint of sailors and abdominal pain. Erasmus or Elmo is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, saintly figures of Christi ...

's martyrdom, by being disemboweled around 303 AD, during the persecutions of Diocletian. St. Erasmus later also became known as Saint Elmo the patron saint of sailors.

Paulinus of Nola Paulinus of Nola (; la, Paulinus Nolanus; also Anglicized as Pauline of Nola; – 22 June 431) born Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus, was a Roman poet, writer, and senator who attained the ranks of suffect consul () and governor of Campan ...

and Therasia stopped at Formiae on their journey back to Nola after visiting

, Easter 408. There they read

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

's letter 95 addressed to them. After the fall of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

, the city was sacked by barbarians and the population moved to two distinct burghs on the nearby hill, which were under the rule of

Gaeta Gaeta (; lat, Cāiēta; Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a city in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Southern Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples. The town has played a consp ...

. Charles II of Anjou built a fortress in the maritime burgh, Mola di Gaeta. The other burgh was known as Castellone, from the castle erected there in the mid-14th century by Onorato I Caetani, count of

. The two villages were united again in 1863 under the name of Formia. The reunited city was badly damaged in 1943–44 in bombing operations and the

Battle of Anzio The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The op ...

Geography

Formia lies on the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

, in southern Lazio, close to the town of

and next to the borders of

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

region. The municipality borders with Esperia ( FR),

, Itri,

Minturno Minturno is a city and ''comune'' in the southern Lazio, Italy, situated on the north west bank of the Garigliano (known in antiquity as the Liris), with a suburb on the opposite bank about from its mouth, at the point where the Via Appia crosse ...

and

Spigno Saturnia Spigno Saturnia is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Latina, in the Lazio region of central Italy. Medieval ''Spinium'', which had its own counts in the Norman period, corresponds to the '' frazione'' of Spigno Vecchio. Origin of n ...

. It counts the hamlets (''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'') of Castellonorato, Gianola-Santo Janni, Marànola, Penitro and Trivio.

Main sights

The most famous monument of Formia is the mausoleum traditionally identified with the Tomb of Cicero: it is a tower on the old Appian Way, enclosed in a large, funerary precinct. Other sights include: *Tower of Mola *Tower of Castellone *Roman cistern, one of the world's largest. Similar to the structures in Constantinople and in the Domitian's villa of Albano, it dates from the 1st century BC. *Remains of the so-called Roman Villa of Mamurra at Gianola, partly destroyed in 1943, including the cisterns of "Maggiore' and of "36 columns", aqueducts, '' cryptoporticus'' and thermal baths. At the centre of the villa at the highest point of the promontory was a grandiose octagonal building also known as the "Temple of Janus" which was flanked by two wings and two porticoes which sloped down towards the sea. Nearby at Porticciolo Romano are the remains of its fishponds for fish farming. Five busts of male heads were recently excavated dating from the 2nd/3rd century AD. *Many remains of Roman villas along the coast *Roman buildings in the town *Church of ''San Giovanni Battista e Lorenzo'', known from 841. It was almost entirely destroyed during World War II. It houses a panel by

Antoniazzo Romano Antoniazzo Romano, born Antonio di Benedetto Aquilo degli Aquili (c. 1430 – c. 1510) was an Italian Early Renaissance painter, the leading figure of the Roman school during the latter part of the 15th century. He "made a speciality of re ...

(c. 1490) *Church of "San Michele" *Church of ''San Luca'', known from the 15th century. It has a recently discovered crypt with frescoes of ''Episodes of the New Testament'' and ''Madonna del Latte''. *Renaissance monastery and church of ''Sant'Erasmo''. It was erected on the alleged site of the saint's martyrdom. *Archaeological Museum. *Regional Park of Gianola and Mount of Scauri. * Formia War Memorial, with the large bronze sculpture ''Sacraficio'' by Dora Ohlfsen-Bagge

Sport

Formia is the seat of the National Athletics School of the Italian National Olympic Committee, founded in 1955. Athletes such as

Pietro Mennea Pietro Paolo Mennea (; 28 June 1952 – 21 March 2013), nicknamed ("the Arrow of the South"), was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200m event, winning a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and set a world ...

and

Giuseppe Gibilisco Giuseppe "Peppe" Gibilisco (; born 5 January 1979) is an Italian coach and former pole vaulter, who won the 2003 World Championships with a personal best of 5.90 m. He followed this with a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics. He also compete ...

trained here. Formia is also a hub for cycling events of various types; road cycling and mountain biking All of which gives access to Parks in Gaeta and Formia; Parco Monte Orlando, Parco Regionale Riviera di Ulisse, Parco Naturale dei Monti Aurunci, and Tours to Rome via the Old Highway. Formia also has great water sports to enjoy; windsurfing and sailing.

Transportation

Formia itself is one of the most important transportation hub of southern Lazio. The Rome–Formia–Naples railway passes through Formia-Gaeta railway station, from which visitors and residents may travel by bus to

, Minturno, Spigno and other local towns. Ferries and hydrofoils connect Formia to

Ponza Ponza (Italian: ''isola di Ponza'' ) is the largest island of the Italian Pontine Islands archipelago, located south of Cape Circeo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is also the name of the commune of the island, a part of the province of Latina i ...

Ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to ...

and

Ventotene Ventotene (; locally ; la, Pandataria or , from grc, Πανδατερία, Pandatería, or ) is one of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Gaeta right at the border between Lazio and Campania, Italy. The municipality ...

Twin towns - sister cities

Formia is twinned with: *

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, Italy * Fleury-les-Aubrais, France, since 2004 * Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Haninge, Sweden * Santeramo in Colle, Italy

People

* Antonio Sicurezza, painter * Vittorio Foa, politician *

Amadeo Bordiga Amadeo Bordiga (13 June 1889 – 25 July 1970) was an Italian Marxist theorist, revolutionary socialist, founder of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI), member of the Communist International (Comintern) and later a leading figure of the Interna ...

, politician * Dino Fava, professional footballer

References

External links

Formia official websiteSite of the "Tomb of Cicero" in Google Maps
*https://www.instagram.com/ {{authority control Coastal towns in Lazio