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Sea and beaches of Lazio Gaeta
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Gaeta city, port, sea and tourism
The origins of the name of Gaeta are still wrapped in the legend: Strabo pointed to its origin by "Gaetas" Laconi used by fishermen to describe the site, with clear reference to the wide bay of its gulf; Diodorus Siculus these lands linked to the myth of the Argonauts by deriving the name of the city from "Aietes, mythical father of Medea (daughter of Circe), the witch in love with Jason.
Virgil, in the 'Aeneid' (Aeneid, VII, 1-4) found its origin in the name of the nurse of Aeneas, "Cajetan", buried by the Trojan hero at that site during his trip to the coast of Lazio. Dante, as if to signify the historicity of the Aeneid, confirmed the incident (Inferno, XXVI, 92). The first settlements in the territory of Gaeta back to the eighth century BC, but it was only in 345 BC that came under the influence of Rome. During the Roman Gaeta became a very popular resort, frequented by emperors, rich Roman patricians, senators and famous by consuls of the time. To facilitate their coming was even built a new Roman road, Via Flacca, shorter than the Appia. The territory, however, is located within that geographic area named in imperial times, Latium adjectum. This name was in fact referring to the territories "added", following the first expansion to the south of Rome, in Latium vetus (homeland of the Latins), with the consequent disappearance of other pre-Roman peoples (Volsci, equitable, and Ernici Ausoni). Now already under Augustus and his administrative reform, the territories of Gaeta fell only in the region that the Romans called with the name of Latium and its ending with the current border with Campania Liri-Garigliano River. By that time many vestiges remain visible, such as the mausoleum that stands on top of Monte Orlando Lucio Munatius Planco, Roman consul, prefect of the City, general Julius Caesar (with him crossed the river Rubicon, was at his side in Gallic campaigns) Mark Antony and Octavian Augustus said. With the fall of Western Roman Empire began a dark period of transition, characterized by continuous looting by the barbarian peoples first and then Saracens. Precisely because of its position on a natural peninsula and easily defensible, slowly turned into a castrum: Gaeta was fortified with walls and stoned on the slopes of Monte Orlando, on the upper part of the medieval village was built in the castle of Gaeta defense of the settlement, and the populations in surrounding areas moved inside the walls to find accommodation, shelter and protection. The first news of the castle date from the sixth century in the war against the Goths, in the tenth century he mentions in the papers of Codex diplomaticus cajetanus, but news of its existence it has in the twelfth century, during the Swabian domination. In fact, Frederick II of Swabia was on several occasions in Gaeta, and during the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the fortifications created to better defend the borders of his kingdom in 1223 he built the castle for those of Gaeta (who was then at existing 'era).
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Gaeta city, port, sea and tourism
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The origins of the name of Gaeta are still wrapped in the legend: Strabo pointed to its origin by "Gaetas" Laconi used by fishermen to describe the site, with clear reference to the wide bay of its gulf; Diodorus Siculus these lands linked to the myth of the Argonauts by deriving the name of the city from "Aietes, mythical father of Medea (daughter of Circe), the witch in love with Jason. Virgil, in the 'Aeneid' (Aeneid, VII, 1-4) found its origin in the name of the nurse of Aeneas, "Cajetan", buried by the Trojan hero at that site during his trip to the coast of Lazio. Dante, as if to signify the historicity of the Aeneid, confirmed the incident (Inferno, XXVI, 92). The first settlements in the territory of Gaeta back to the eighth century BC, but it was only in 345 BC that came under the influence of Rome. During the Roman Gaeta became a very popular resort, frequented by emperors, rich Roman patricians, senators and famous by consuls of the time. To facilitate their coming was even built a new Roman road, Via Flacca, shorter than the Appia. The territory, however, is located within that geographic area named in imperial times, Latium adjectum. This name was in fact referring to the territories "added", following the first expansion to the south of Rome, in Latium vetus (homeland of the Latins), with the consequent disappearance of other pre-Roman peoples (Volsci, equitable, and Ernici Ausoni). Now already under Augustus and his administrative reform, the territories of Gaeta fell only in the region that the Romans called with the name of Latium and its ending with the current border with Campania Liri-Garigliano River. By that time many vestiges remain visible, such as the mausoleum that stands on top of Monte Orlando Lucio Munatius Planco, Roman consul, prefect of the City, general Julius Caesar (with him crossed the river Rubicon, was at his side in Gallic campaigns) Mark Antony and Octavian Augustus said. With the fall of Western Roman Empire began a dark period of transition, characterized by continuous looting by the barbarian peoples first and then Saracens. Precisely because of its position on a natural peninsula and easily defensible, slowly turned into a castrum: Gaeta was fortified with walls and stoned on the slopes of Monte Orlando, on the upper part of the medieval village was built in the castle of Gaeta defense of the settlement, and the populations in surrounding areas moved inside the walls to find accommodation, shelter and protection. The first news of the castle date from the sixth century in the war against the Goths, in the tenth century he mentions in the papers of Codex diplomaticus cajetanus, but news of its existence it has in the twelfth century, during the Swabian domination. In fact, Frederick II of Swabia was on several occasions in Gaeta, and during the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the fortifications created to better defend the borders of his kingdom in 1223 he built the castle for those of Gaeta (who was then at existing 'era).
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