Minturno

It has a station on the Rome-Naples main railway line.

History

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The nearby sanctuary of Marica with an Italic tuff temple was built about 500 BC.

Ancient Minturnae was one of the three towns of the

The city was radically transformed when it became a colonia under Augustus when the urban tract of the via Appia was enhanced with porticos, temples to Augustus and Julius Caesar were built and the theatre was rebuilt. ^[4]

The city was further expanded under

The Saracens were ousted by the Catholic league after the

Roman remains

Many of the main momumental buildings of the ancient city are visible at their site outside the modern city. The impressive Roman remains mainly date to the Hadrianic period (built over earlier buildings) and consist of the:

• theatre in opus reticulatum
• aqueduct in opus reticulatum, the quoins of which are of various colours arranged in patterns to produce a decorative effect. A unique feature was that its castellum aquae (distribution basin) was part of the central pier of the city gate.^[5]
  It was more than 11 km long from its source at the springs of Capodacqua.
• thermal baths with large swimming pool
• Two Fora; Republican and Imperial. The imperial forum was built under the reconstruction by Augustus, opposite the republican forum. On its eastern side were later the most important public buildings: the curia and the basilica
• decumanus maximus
  with monumental colonnade though the centre of the city
• macellum (meat market)
• Capitolium, built in Italic style after 191 BC, on the south of the Republican forum next to the Appian Way.^[6] It is similar to other Capitolia of this period at Pyrgi and Cosa and most likely was an affirmation of Roman loyalty and identity
• amphitheatre (now almost entirely demolished, but better preserved in the 18th century)

Close to the mouth of the river, about 2 km distant, was the sacred grove of the Italic goddess Marica.

Other sights

• The baronial Castle (C. 9th century) housed famous figures such as
  St. Thomas Aquinas, Isabella Colonna and Giulia Gonzaga
• The church of St. Francis, built around 1360 by Roffredo III Caetani, nephew of Pope Boniface VIII
• The church of Annunziata (c. 1300), damaged by the Turks pirates in 1552, by the French-Polish troops in 1799 and by a fire in 1888. In 1930 a restoration removed all the Baroque additions and showed the presence of ancient frescoes.
• The church of St. Peter (11th-12th centuries). The façade is preceded by a staircase and a porch with 4 arcades (14th century). The interior has a nave and two aisles divided by tall columns with ogival arcs. The right aisle houses the notable Baroque Sacrament Chapel (1587), decorated with polychrome marbles. Other art pieces include a candelabra (1264) with mosaic decoration, and the Pergagum, with antique columns and 13th-century mosaics. It has a three-floor belfry.
• Ferdinandeo Bridge over the River Garigliano was the first iron catenary suspension bridge built in Italy, and one of the earliest in continental Europe. This bridge, which was technologically advanced for its age, was built in 1832 by the Bourbon Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

The engineer who designed the bridge was Luigi Giura. The bridge has been rebuilt in recent time (1998), in fact was mined during the Second World War.

The suburb of Scauri, on the Gulf of Gaeta, may take its name from the Roman consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, who had a sumptuous villa here. It has some notable ancient watchtowers, including the Torre Saracena, at the mouth of the river Garigliano, erected between 961 and 981, commemorates a victory gained by Pope John X and his allies over the Saracens in 915 (see battle of Garigliano). It is built of Roman materials from Minturnae, including several inscriptions and sculptures.

Emigrants

In the early 20th century, many residents of Minturno and the villages around it emigrated to

Michael Fedele, former lieutenant governor of Connecticut, was born in Minturno in 1955.

Twin towns

• Stamford, USA, since 2008

References