Scauri
In the town of Scauri, toward the border between the comune of Minturno and that of Formia, there are still considerable Roman villas ruins, mainly within private estates; among these remnants, there is a polygonal structure.
Some scholars have identified this fortified centre with the ancient town of Pirae, which Plinius the old places just between Formia and Minturnae.
It seems possible to exclude that the Scauri ancient town walls were built by pre-Roman populations (Aurunci or Ausoni): the technique used, extremely precise, can perhaps be attributed to Roman expert workers.
Presumably, the walls were built around 3rd century b. C., at the same when Minturnae was founded by Roman settlers as a strategic post, controlling the coastal line. The polygonal wall was re-used to build a country settlement in the beginning of the 2nd century b. C., thereafter enlarged by the construction, on the southern side, of seven arches, of an uncertain dating. Some students have suggested that, referring to the present name of the town, the villa of the 2nd century b. C. had belonged to Marco Emilio Scauro, princeps senatus and consul in 115 b. C. Actually, it is possible that this impressive building had belonged to a consular Roman family, even though there is still non certain evidence of this.
On the same site, in the Middle Age, a tower was built to protect some mills, moved by the stream Capodacqua.
On the nearby monte d'Oro (Golden hill), there are some ruins of the Square Tower, built in the late 16th century to improve the coastal defence against the pirates' raids. To be remembered the mournful day of 21 July 1552, when the Saracen Dragut landed on Scauri's shores with his strong army, took two hundred inhabitants as prisoners and set the town on fire.
Adjacent, there is the spiaggia dei sassolini (beach of the small stones), a marvellous bay with crystal waters: a Sardinia corner in our territory!
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Minturno
Minturnae was an Italic city, forming the Italic "Aurunca" Pentapolis together with Vescia, Ausona, Sinuessa and Sessa, in which it was very influential. Roman sources speak about the existence of a pre-Roman city on the site. Roman historian started to be interested in Minturnae and its population until Rome entered into conflict and completely destroyed it. Afterwards it was rebuilt with the constitution of a colony in 295 b. C., and with other two successive settlements, respectively during the ages of Ceasar and Augustus. The Roman city of Minturnae was very important and lived, with various vicissitudes, until the VI century. It was abandoned only around 580 a. D., for a series of reasons; among the latter its natural vulnerability, due to the geographic position and the loss of control of the nearby mountain region, and for the spreading of the marsh and the wild forest.
The colony originally had a reduced extension, nearby the river; however, already during the 3rd century b. C., it had a considerable urban development in direction West, on the road Appia. There, the new neighbourhoods were bound by the city walls. There are many remnants of the Roman period, some of which collected in the local museum. Entrance to the archaeological compound is in the large theatre area, the most impressive monument of the city, insisting on the road Appia and on the republican forum with its arcades. The western side of the compound is occupied by an important temple dedicated to Jupiter, the colony's Capitolium, of which only the foundations exist today. The nearby ritual well, a bidental, is one of the rare remnants of fulgur conditum, a ceremonial burial of objects striken by lightnings, and it is the proof that the temple of Jupiter was hit by a lightning for two times. Extremely important, the extra-urban sanctuary of the goddess Marica, the aurunca goddess of the sea, is situated 400 m from the ancient harbour: known by the bibliography and excavated in 1926, it is placed beside a second temple, dedicated to Aphrodites.
Considering the extremely rich and abundant archaeological material, especially sculptures, the city must have been very wealthy: the presence of both a theatre and an amphitheatre, usually rich of statues, sheds light upon such an abundance of sculptures. A large collection of statues, about 160, from Minturnae is today in the National Museum of Zagreb, Croatia; fewer pieces are at the Philadelphia University, USA, after the participation in the excavation of 1931-33; a hundred of statues are at the National Museum in Naples.
To be mentioned also the sculptures at the Museum instituted in 1965 in the archaeological compound: the exhibition inside the theatre's porticoes, restored for this purpose.
Excavations up to date have involved part of ancient Minturnae only: to be excavated there are the Italic town and the republican-imperial city, with its walls, public residential buildings and amphitheatre.
Coming from Formia the impressive Vespasiano's aqueduct can be seen, with its long theory of arcades fading into the countryside and reaching, after 11 km, the Capodacqua's springs. The structure of the arcades, in some parts extremely high, is in tuff brick reticulate.
On the river Garigliano there is the restored Bourbon bridge, suspended on iron chains and designed by Luigi Giura; it was inaugurated in 1832. The bridge was built in 6 years, between 1826 and 1832, under the kingdom of Ferdinand 2nd of Bourbon. It is a bridge at one span, a real challenge for the period. On the two sides of the river there are two columns in stone, sustaining a brace which, from the soil, raises up to the top of the column, goes down toward the centre of the river, goes up again to the top of the second column and definitely gets filled with earth on the other side of the river. Stuck to this support there are other iron braces for the suspended road level. “Guarding” the bridge two couples of sphinxes. Destroyed during the Second World War, the bridge has been recently restored. On the left side of the river, near its mouth, a tower 25 m high was built during the second half of the 10th century by the prince Pandolfo Capodiferro both as a fortified structure and to celebrate the victory against the Saracens. Before the Second World War, in this building, the minister of the public education Pietro Fedele had there inaugurated a very important museum; unfortunately, the tower was destroyed in 1943 by the retiring German army.
Caio Mario, as it is known, during the Civil War escaped from Rome, occupied by Silla who had declared him a public enemy. He therefore tried to reach Africa, where he thought he could re-organise his reaction. Counting on some reliable contacts he had in Minturno, he decided to stop there (88 b. C.); ready to catch him, he found there also some upholders of the opposite faction. According to the tradition, a slave was in charge to kill Caio Mario. The slave was firmly faced by Caio Mario, and ran away as soon as the latter said: “How you dare kill Caio Mario?” Shocked and repented, Minturno's people freed the man and supplied him with all he needed for his flight. This episode has been considered several times by local students and was illustrated in 1786 by the French painter Germain Jean Drouais. The painting is nowadays displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The Roman ruins consist of an amphitheatre (now almost entirely demolished, but better preserved in the 18th century), a theatre in opus reticulatum, and a very fine aqueduct in opus reticulatum, the quoins of which are of various colours arranged in patterns to produce a decorative effect. There is also a statue commonly called Sepeone (Scipio), from the Late Empire age.
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Formia
Formia was founded by ancient Romans, the name deriving from the Greek hormiai, meaning "landing place". It was a renowned resort during the imperial era.Cicero was assassinated on the Appian Way outside the town in 43 BC, and his tomb remains a minor tourist destination. The city was also the seat of St. Erasmus's martyrdom, by being disemboweled around 303 AD, during the persecutions of Diocletian.After the fall of the Western Roman Empire 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. 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 Fondi.The two villages were united again in 1863 under the name of Formia.

Gaeta
It is the ancient Caieta, situated on the slopes of the Torre di Orlando, a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean. Gaeta was an ancient Ionian colony of the Samians according to Strabo, who believed the name stemmed from the Greek kaiétas, which means "cave", probably referring to the several harbours. According to Virgil's Aeneid (vii.1–9), Caieta was Aeneas’ (another legend says or Ascanius') wet-nurse, whom he buried here.In the classical age Caieta, famous for its lovely and temperate climate, like the neighbouring Formia and Sperlonga, was a tourist resort and site of the seaside villas of many important and rich characters of Rome. Like the other Roman resorts, Caieta was linked to the capital of the Empire by Via Appia and its end trunk Via Flacca (or Valeria), through an opposite diverticulum or bye-road. Its port was of great importance in trade and in war, and was restored under Emperor Antoninus Pius. Among its antiquities is the mausoleum of Lucius Munatius Plancus.
Don’t miss to visit:
* the Montagna Spaccata and the Santuario della Trinità. Opening time: 8.30 – 12:00 (13:00 on Sunday); from 15:00 till the sunset
* the Grotta del Turco: opening time 8.30 – 12:00 (13:00 on Sunday); from 15:00 till the sunset
* Roman Mausoleo of Lucio Munazio Planco: is open Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 till 13:00 and from 14:00 till 18:00.
* Borbonic fortress

Sperlonga
Sperlonga was an ancient Roman resort: Emperor Tiberius built here a famous villa, including one of the grottoes (Latin: speluncae) which gave the name to the town.After the fall of the Western Empire, in the 6th century, the ruins of the Imperial residence served as refuge for local people. Later the population began to move to the nearby promontory of St. Magnus, in order to escape the unhealthful marshes and the Saracen attacks. The danger posed by the Saracens is made clear by the presence of many watchtowers all along the coast to Gaeta. In 1534 the small centre was destroyed by Barbarossa. In the 18th and 19th centuries Sperlonga recovered and acquired some noble residences, and agriculture flourished. However, the touristic expansion occurred only after the opening of the coastal road Terracina-Gaeta (the via Flacca) in 1957.The most ancient church is that of Santa Maria (early 12th century), currently closed for restorations which have disclosed the presence of precious mediaeval mosaics. Sperlonga is mostly a tourist town thanks to it beaches, a long beach on its west side going all the way to Terracina, and a series of short beaches and rocky cliffs on its east side towards Gaeta.The main connection is that by road from Terracina and Gaeta. The nearest railways station is that of Fondi-Sperlonga, on one of the two Rome-Naples mainline (the one going via Formia).

Ponza Island
Monte La Guardia (915.3 feet) is Ponza's highest point. From there you can admire the beauty of this narrow, long and half-moon-shaped island. Its coasts are ragged and rich in coves and smaller crags such as the small isle of Cavi and the cliff of La Botte.
Excellent hotels and comfortable boarding-houses are available on the island.
This island which is only 4.97 miles long is full of places to visit, such as the lovely beach of Chiaia di Luna, which can be reached through a tunnel dug out by the Romans and which is full of archaeological remains scattered everywhere. Tourists who intend to explore the whole island have a wide choice of suggested itineraries that will satisfy all types of interests.
Minibuses and open-roof taxis will help the tourist to reach all the interesting spots in very little time.

Ventotene Island
This small island (0.5 sq. miles) was formed by volcanic, mainly tufaceous rocks once used to build houses (as you can see when entering the port). Ventotene has generally high and ragged coasts and two small, beautiful beaches just behind the built-up area: Cala Rossano (close to the Porto Nuovo) and Cala Nave (with the three cliffs: Nave di Terra, Nave di Fuori and Scoglitello). In isolated areas away from the port there are other stretches of beach such as: Parata della Postina, Moggio di Terra and Parata Grande.
The island was first used as a base by the Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Romans in the Ist. century and was subsequently equipped by Augustus with a port dug in volcanic rock which is still in use today and which serves the huge Villa Giulia where he had relegated his daughter accused of infidelity.
After the decadence and abandonment period of the Middle Ages the island was repopulated by the Bourbons during the second half of the XVIII century. They created the current built-up area with the castle (today's town-hall), the church of Santa Candida and the wide square.

Santo Stefano Island
Santo Stefano island is located off the coast of Italy, Latium Region (Latina County) approx. 93 miles west of Naples, in the Gulf of Gaeta, Pontine Archipelo Islands (see map). The coast of Gaeta's Gulf, the 'Ulysses Coast', has fine sandy beaches, with the Aurunci Mountains overlooking the sea at a height of 1,500 meters. This makes Ulysses' Coast unique in the world.
The beauty of this place and mild climate all year round have favoured the human attendance ever since prehistoric times. There are settlements in Formia, later a Roman colony, in Pirae, with the Monte di Scauri rising behind, of ancient Minturnae, but more important are the remains of the great Roman villas.
The Pontine Archipelago consists of 2 groups of islands which are approx. 22 sea miles apart. The northwest group consists of the Island of Ponza (its own district) and the islands Palmarola, Gavi and Zannone. The southeast group consists of Ventotene and the Island of Stefan (Isola Santo Stefano).
Santo Stefano is just half a sea mile from Ventotene. The horse-shoe shape building, designed by architect Carpi, was built 1794 - 95. It served as a prison for many years but is not included in the sale of this property. There is also a church and various houses (16) on the island as well as two landings. The island and buildings have good tourist potential, eventually the buildings could be developed into a hotel.