Gaeta, Lazio, the Split Mountain.

2022

According to the most famous legend, the Montagna Spaccata di Gaeta split into two large blocks of rock at the time of Christ's crucifixion, leaving an inlet to the clear waters of the Gulf. The waters of the Mediterranean poured into the rupture lines, forming underground caves and streams. The natural recess became an ideal hiding place for pirates since ancient times.

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Priverno. Cistercian Abbey of Fossanova.

Fossanova Abbey is located in the municipality of Priverno, 5 km south of the city center, in the province of Latina. The surrounding area has the appearance of a vicus and takes its name from a sewer that in the early days of the small village (now a hamlet of Priverno) was called Fossa Nova. Declared a "national monument" in 1874, Fossanova Abbey is the oldest example of Cistercian art in Italy and, together with Casamari Abbey, one of its highest expressions. The complex was born at the end of the 12th century from the transformation of a pre-existing Benedictine monastery, perhaps dating back to the 6th century, of which a faint trace remains above the rose window of the church. The ancient monastery, built on the ruins of a Roman villa, was in fact ceded in 1134 by Pope Innocent II to some Burgundian monks, led by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who followed the rigid rule resulting from the Citeaux reform (1098) based on the original Benedictine orthodoxy. The abbey complex known as a remake of the Benedictine one is made up of the cloister, the heart of the entire organism, the church of Santa Maria, the Chapter House with the monks' dormitories above, the refectory, the kitchen and the dormitories of the lay brothers. The pilgrims' house, the cemetery and the infirmary complete the complex. Consecrated in 1208, it preserves the bare architecture, the magnificent rose window and lantern and the finely sculpted capitals, testifying to the pre-eminent role played in the area. The buildings of the monumental complex are fenced so as to appear like a village, further enriched by the remains of a Roman villa from the 1st century BC, visible right in front of the church. In the 18th century the abbey was called Badia del For Appio. In one of the abbey's rooms, the monks' products are sold, from food to wines and liqueurs. From 1935 to 2017, a community of Conventual Friars Minor (Franciscans) lived in the abbey. Since 2017, the care of the abbey and the parish has been entrusted to the fathers of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, with the help of the Sisters Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, by the same Religious Family.

Cistercian Abbey of Casamari (FR)

Casamari Abbey is one of the most important Italian monasteries of Cistercian Gothic architecture. It was built in 1203 and consecrated in 1217. It is located in the territory of the municipality of Veroli, in the province of Frosinone. In June 1957 Pope Pius XII elevated the abbey church to the dignity of a minor basilica.

Isola del Liri. The waterfall in the historic center

The abbey of Casamari

Rome. The Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is the largest of the famous fountains in Rome. Built on the facade of Palazzo Poli by Nicola Salvi, the competition announced by Pope Clement XII in 1731 had initially been won by the French sculptor Lambert-Sigisbert Adam but subsequently the assignment passed to Salvi: it is said that the change was due to the fact that the pontiff did not want to entrust the work to a foreigner, however another version explains that Adam had to return to France. Begun in 1732, it was finally entrusted in 1759 to Pietro Bracci helped by his son Virginio. The two completed the work, which was inaugurated in 1762.

Terracina, Temple of Jupiter Anxur

The temple of Jupiter Anxur is a Roman temple built on an imposing construction of the 1st century BC. on Mount Sant'Angelo, in the city of Terracina, in the province of Latina.

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Ostia. Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica is historically considered the “Gateway to Rome”: founded at the mouth of the Tiber, it was the first colony of Rome, as early as the 4th century BC.

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Gaeta, Lazio. The Grotta del Turco

Grotta del Turco is so called, as in the ninth century the ships of the Saracens took refuge in the crevices of this strategic promontory, to attack ships in transit and plunder them.

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