A cool, overcast Roma day but the
perfect time to take the train to Formia/Gaeta to visit the towns where I lived
with my family from the time I was 6 until I was 11 years old. So the 70's!
They are two somewhat small towns that neighbor each other on the Mediterranean
seaside.
After working this morning on the
computer I headed for Trastevere train station to catch the 10:09am train to
Roma Termini where I would switch to the train to Napoli that makes a stop at
the Formia station. Well, typical of Italian train travel my train was going to
be 10 minute late which would mess up me getting to my connecting train in
time. So like the good city girl I am and the now more savvy Roman I tried to
think of a new travel plan which I easily came up with. A week in Rome and I'm
able to navigate the transit system pretty well so you might say I'm very proud
of myself. So I took the train to Ostiense switched to the Metro going to the
Termini station got out, walked to the Departures board and checked for the
appropriate train and found the one going to Napoli at 10:49am and off I went
to track 13, stamped my ticket and was on board about 15 minutes early. You've
got to love that!!!
Oh, and the train to Napoli is a
little different than some of the others because everyone is so loud. I had this
mother behind me with her young son and she was loud and annoying and obsessed
with her son, repeating everything he said and just letting him run amuck.
After about 30 minutes the two men and young lady who were sitting with me were
all just as disgusted and the young girl said the boy thinks this is his
playground. It's not the child’s fault it's his awful mother!
Anyway, on to better things. I
got Formia station by noon and started walking. I got to a piazza and hopped on
a bus that this teenage girl said took me to Gaeta. Well she was right it did
take me to Gaeta but only through it very quickly and then on its way to Sperlonga and Terracina. We had picked up a group of rowdy boys in Gaeta right before we
headed out of town. Well it was an
unexpected journey but lovely none the less. I'm sure my mother knows these
towns and even took us there when we were kids but it's all new to me now. Sperlonga is a pretty hill top town with its own beach at the bottom. Its
buildings, unlike those in Tuscany are all white washed and very clean. Terracina is another hilltop town but this one is
more spread out and has a lot of buildings and businesses on the flat land
below as well as a lovely beach. This
area would be so great to visit if you had a car and could just go from one to
the other easily. I walked around Terracina's city center, old and new, for a little bit as I waited for the
bus to go back to Gaeta. The town has
some incredible ancient ruins right in the middle of the town. It's remarkable,
you're walking up this steep hill looking at old buildings but nothing so
incredible that you want to stop and take a picture then you make a turn, go
through an archway and there are the ruins of Jupiter's temple. Fabulous, and what
a wonderful surprise. An older Italian woman who was just hanging out her 2nd
floor window smoking directed me toward them and I'm glad I listened.
The bus ride back to Gaeta was
even nicer than going because this bus took the Oceanside roads. Really
beautiful beaches and towns and you even drive along a Cliffside road (not my
favorite) but still incredible views.
So, once I got back to Gaeta city
center I began to walk around and found the Rock Garden Hotel, the first
European home I ever had and the place I began my very first European
adventure. It did look sort of familiar but I have a feeling there are new
buildings around it because I don't remember it being so surrounded. I saw the beach where we used to swim and the
cave that is way off to the left of the beach and I kind of remember swimming
in there or maybe we boated there. Something was so familiar about it.
So after getting a snack at the
Old Station restaurant, I headed back toward the marina. Oh, yes, I made an
initial stop after leaving the Rock Garden Hotel to this coffee shop, the Caffeteria Del Corso, across around the corner and I'm pretty sure it was their way back when (my mom
would probably know) and fully intended to snack there but I went to their
bathroom first, no toilette seat, as usual, but also no toilette paper or hand
soap. Thank goodness for hand sanitizer and a packet of travel tissues someone
left near the toilet. I know, that doesn't mean the place wasn't clean but
really, no hand soap!
Okay so more walking and then I
got the "C" public bus to tour the rest of the city and perhaps come
across where my old school was and the church where I got my Communion and so
on. As I waited for the bus to come I sat on the bench and enjoyed the breeze
when an elderly couple came over so I of course made lots of room for them. The
women turned to me and gave me a flower she had just picked and said, in
Italian, that I was good because I didn't hesitate to give them a seat so I
should have the flower. Isn't that sweet. I have the flower pressed in my
book. And I have noticed that very few
young people get up to let their elders sit. It's sad, I don't think anyone
tells them they should or maybe they just don't care, I'm not sure. But clearly
this woman doesn't experience people letting her sit often.
The "C" bus takes you
completely around the city, often going around the same street two or three
times before it makes its final destination at the park beneath the hill that
has the castle on it. I walked and had a gelato in the park and went to the old
church, Santissima Annunziata
where a mass was just concluding. The church looks
so old from the outside but inside the walls are all white and blue paint and
gorgeous pink marble. The alter is also exquisite with a gold, elaborately
decorated crucifix.
I didn't get to walk up to the
old cathedral on the top of the hill but it looks beautiful from down below.
I'm sure my mother took us there many time but I just can't remember it. I didn't see the church I got my Communion at
but I do think I saw my old school and the marina where I took sailing lessons.
It was so nice to go back because when my mom and I went three years ago we had
so little time to explore. But I did expect things to feel much more familiar
then they did. But it's 34 years since we lift and things have changed. I did
see an apartment building around the corner from the Rock Garden which was
completely covered in ceramic, dark blue tiles and very beautiful with a
strange circular ornament on the top which did seem so familiar.
I took a picture from the old
town park while waiting for the bus to the train station of Formia in the
distance and if you look very close in the picture on the right side you'll see
a kayaker out playing around in the water. I knew my mom would love seeing that
as she loves her kayak.
I got the train back to Rome
Termini at 7:30pm and it was only a 1 hour 10 minute trip, so quick. So all-in-all a really wonderful day and glad
I got to visit the towns once again. I do think one day we need to just book a
hotel in Gaeta and just spend a week going to the beach and driving around from
town to town. There is just so much to see and enjoy in this area and a day
isn't enough!!!
Luisa was so kind and made dinner
so when I arrived at the apartment we had hamburgers, zucchini and salad, yum!
Here is some history and
information on the towns I visited today:
Brief History of Gaeta - Gaeta
(Latin: Caieta) is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio,
central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is
120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples.
The town has played a conspicuous
part in military history: its fortifications date back to Roman times, and it
has several traces of the period, including the 1st-century mausoleum of the
Roman general Lucius Munatius Plancus at the top of the Monte Orlando.
Gaeta's fortifications were
extended and strengthened in the 15th century, especially throughout the
history of the Kingdom of Naples (later the Two Sicilies). Present day Gaeta is
a fishing and oil seaport, and a renowned tourist resort. NATO maintains a
Naval base of operations at Gaeta.
It is the ancient Caieta,
situated on the slopes of the Torre di Orlando, a promontory overlooking the
Mediterranean Sea. 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 Ascanius')
wet-nurse, whom he buried here.
In the classical age Caieta,
famous for its lovely and temperate climate, like the neighboring 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.
Brief History of Formia - Formia
is a city and comune in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean coast of
Lazio (Italy). It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the
Roman-era Appian Way. Formiae (modern day Formia) was founded by ancient
Romans, the name deriving from the Greek Ὁρμίαι hormiai, meaning "landing
place". It was a renowned resort during the imperial era.
The octagonal tower of
Castellone.
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. St. Erasmus
later also became known as Saint Elmo the patron saint of sailors.
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. The reunited city was badly damaged in
1943-1944 in bombing operations and the Battle of Anzio.
Brief History of Sperlonga - A coastal town in the province of Latina,
Italy, about halfway between Rome and Naples.
Surrounding towns include Terracina to the West, Fondi to the North,
Itri to the North-East, and Gaeta to the East.
Sperlonga was an ancient Roman resort: The Roman 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 unhealthy 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.
Brief History of Terracina -
Terracina is as old as its literal sources that claim the town’s origin as
Etruscan, Volscian and then a Roman colony. It is extraordinarily capable of
surprising you with its immense cultural and artistic patrimony accumulated
over the centuries.
At the end of the Etruscan
supremacy in the region of Lazio “Terracina” it was in fact handed over to the
Italian population, named the Volscians, who then changed its name to “Anxur” .
Only after a long period of wars was the foundation of the maritime colony, in
329 B.C. sanctioned. This was of strategic importance for the military and
commercial penetration south of the peninsular.
The oldest part of the town,
enclosed in the polygonal town walls, was built on the western slope of Mount
Sant’Angelo, which extended towards the Valley and the marshes known as the
Cannete. Stories from the Roman period tell of the growth of the town and the
exploitation of the fertile land to the east, and how the town extended and
became inhabited down near the sea , while the original part of the town on the
hill remained the more elegant area, rich in mansions and monuments.
During the age of Silla, several
monuments in opus incertum and reticulatum, such as the Roman theatre were
built, as were the walls that surrounded the monument of Mount Sant’Angelo and
the construction of the magnificent Temple of Juppiter Anxur. 
