Fondi (Lazio)

Fondi is a city in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. Before the construction of the highway between the latter cities in the late 1950s, Fondi had been an important settlement on the Roman Via Appia, which was the main connection from Rome to much of southern Italy. Fondi is the main town of the Plain of Fondi (Piana di Fondi in Italian), a small plain between the Ausoni and Aurunci mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The plain includes three lakes and is agriculturally very fertile. The 15-kilometre (9 mi) long sandy beach stretches from Sperlonga in the south-east to Terracina in the north-west and lies along the Gulf of Gaeta, with views (when the weather is clear) to the Pontine Islands. It is marked by a somehow well-preserved, typical Mediterranean coastal dune landscape. The territory of Fondi is partially included in the Regional Natural Park of Monti Aurunci. Fondi's main sights include: the Castle, the adjacent Palazzo del Principe ("Prince's Palace"), the Cathedral of St. Peter, the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, the medieval churches of San Domenico and San Francesco.