Sezze (from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
"Setia") is a town 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 ...
'' 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 ...
, central
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 ...
, about south of
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 from 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 th ...
coast. The historical center of Sezze is located on a high hill commanding the
Pontine plain.
The area has been known for its fine climate since Roman times: warm and dry in summer, cool in winter.
History
According to a legend, the city was founded by the mythical hero
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted th ...
,
after his victory over the
Lestrigones, a population of giant cannibals living in southern Lazio. The town coat of arms features the white
Nemean lion which Hercules slew in the first labor.
The historical Setia appeared around the 5th century BC as the
Volscan
The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...
settlement member of the
Latin League
The Latin League (c. 7th century BC – 338 BC)Stearns, Peter N. (2001) ''The Encyclopedia of World History'', Houghton Mifflin. pp. 76–78. . was an ancient confederation of about 30 villages and tribes in the region of Latium near the ancient ...
. It became a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
colony in 382 BC,
[ and flourished because of its strategic and commercial position near the "pedemontana" way and the Appian Way, the road that connected Rome to southern Italy.
During the Civil War between ]Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...
and Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla ha ...
, Setia supported the former and was later punished by the victorious Sulla (82 BC). In the Imperial period Setia was famous for its villas, and its wines were praised by Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 an ...
, Juvenal
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's lif ...
and 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 est ...
.
According to Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ...
, Roman dictator
A Roman dictator was an extraordinary magistrate in the Roman Republic endowed with full authority to resolve some specific problem to which he had been assigned. He received the full powers of the state, subordinating the other magistrates, co ...
Julius Caesar had plans to drain the wetlands around the city to create new farmland however he was assassinated before these plans could come to fruition. While not directly stated, it could be assumed this land would be cultivating grapes for the cities wine production.
In the early Middle Ages the city had a troubled life due to its location near the main road of communication. But in 956 it was freed from the Papal authority and organized itself as a commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
with laws of its own. Later, several popes sojourned in Sezze, including Gregory VII (1073), Paschal II
Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cr ...
(1116) and Lucius III
Pope Lucius III (c. 1097 – 25 November 1185), born Ubaldo Allucingoli, reigned from 1 September 1181 to his death in 1185. Born of an aristocratic family of Lucca, prior to being elected pope, he had a long career as a papal diplomat. His pa ...
(1182).
The semi-autonomous status lasted until the city, after decades of skirmishes and wars with neighboring Sermoneta
Sermoneta is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Latina (Lazio), central Italy.
It is a walled hill town, with a 13th-century Romanesque cathedral called Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and a massive castle, built by the Caetani ...
and Priverno Priverno is a town, ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. It was called ''Piperno'' until 1927.
It has a station of the Rome-Naples railway mainline. Nearby is the Monti Lepini chain. It was the birthplace of the canonist Reg ...
, was conquered by the troops of the Caetani family
The House of Caetani, or Gaetani, is the name of an Italian noble family, originally from the city of Gaeta, connected by some to the lineage of the lords of the Duchy of Gaeta, as well as to the patrician Gaetani of the Republic of Pisa. It play ...
in 1381. After 12 years the Setini revolted and exterminated the occupiers and, once free, they returned under the protection of the Pope.
In 1656, after suffering the ravages of plague, and raids from Spanish and Austrian troops, the population was reduced by half.
In 1690 one of the first academies in Italy, the scientific-literary Academy of the "Abbozzati", was founded in Sezze.
In 1798 all of Lazio was occupied by French troops. The Setini rebelled, exterminating the garrison: they avoided a bitter revenge only by paying a large sum of money.
In the late 19th century the city was annexed to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and ...
.
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
some churches and buildings in the historical center were destroyed by the American bombardments.
Main sights
Many of the original city walls still exist, built of large blocks of limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
in the polygonal style. This style is also seen in several terrace walls belonging to a later date, indicated by the careful jointing and bossing of the blocks of which they are composed. Such intentional archaism is by no means uncommon in the neighborhood of Rome.
The modern town, occupying the ancient site, is an episcopal see, with a much-restored 13th-century Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
cathedral.
There are remains of Roman villa
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas ...
s at the foot of the hill ('Monte Trevi') on which the town stands. The two terraces date to the end of the 2nd Century BC.[Annalisa Marzano ]
Transportation
Sezze is connected to the railway line Rome–Naples. The main road connection is the modern SS7, which bears the name of the ancient 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, ...
.
Twin towns
* Kozármisleny
Kozármisleny ( hr, Mišljen; german: Mischlen) is a town in Baranya County, Hungary. It is south-east of the city of Pécs.
History
The history of Kozármisleny is rooted in the early Bronze Age, as indicated by archeological findings. Roman re ...
, Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
, since 2004
References
Sources
External links
*
{{authority control
Cities and towns in Lazio