Terracina

Terracina is in the center of an area that boasts some rare natural beauty and landscapes. If you travel a little further south along the coast you will find Sperlonga, a Medieval town center crouched over a steep spur plunging into the sea. A little further north you will find San Felice, also holding fast to the slopes of a promontory, and in the center of the great Circeo National Park, whose panorama is astonishing for it has escaped the disfigurement caused by modern buildings. Your fishing boat will sail past Selva di Circe, a wood dense with oaks, and take you near the long coastal dune that conceals four littoral lakes. On the horizon, the silhouette of Sabaudia will appear, a town built in the early twentieth century according to rationalist architectural criteria. Another destination to include in your itinerary is the Pontine Islands: Ventotene, with its Ancient Roman port dug out of the rock and perfectly preserved, and Ponza, which scuba divers rightly consider to be a paradise. Despite the rebuilding and the destruction brought by the last war, Terracina deserves a visit, especially those zones that have kept their medieval appearance: the communication trench that runs along the Byzantine-Medieval walls and the Cathedral square, with its belfry and handsome Palazzo Venditti. Borgo la Marina, down in the low part of the town, is the quarter born of the reclamation carried out at the end of the eighteenth century, while the characteristic port-canal was designed in the mid-1800s. The most important event is the Madonna del Carmine feast, also known as the Festa del Mare (Sea Festival), held in July, during which you can watch the procession of fishermen who carry the Madonna's statue on their specially decgilthead seabreamd boats. The cuisine has been influenced both by Rome and by Naples, and offers an endless variety of fish-based dishes; not to be missed: spaghetti impepati, made with mussels or clams.