Wingsch Real Estate Investments   

Gaeta in Lazio

Saturday, 29 March 2025 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Gaeta (Latin: C?i?ta; Southern Laziale: Gaieta) is a seaside resort in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 96.5 kilometres (60 miles) from Naples and 133 km (83 mi) from Rome.

The city has played a conspicuous part in military history; its walls date to Roman times and were extended and strengthened in the 15th century, especially throughout the history of the Kingdom of Naples (later the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies).

Present-day Gaeta is a fishing and oil port and a renowned seaside resort. NATO has a naval base in Gaeta.

Gaeta does have a viable tourism industry as it is a popular seaside resort. Its warm, rain-free summers attract people to its numerous beaches along the coastline, such as Serapo and Sant’Agostino’s beaches. Nearly equidistant to Naples and Rome, Gaeta is a popular summer tourist destination for people from both cities’ metropolitan areas.

The main attractions of the city include:

• The Aragonese-Angevine Castle. Its origins are uncertain: most likely it was built in the 6th century, in the course of the Gothic War, or during the 7th century to defend the town from the Lombards‘ advance. The first documents mentioning it date to the age of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, who strengthened it in 1233. The current structure is made of two different edifices: the “Angevine” one, in the lower sector, dating to the House of Anjou’s rule in the Kingdom of Naples; and the “Aragonese”, at the top, built by emperor Charles V, together with the other fortifications that made Gaeta one of the strongest fortresses in southern Italy. The Angevine wing housed a military jail until the 1980s (German war criminal officers Walter Reder and Herbert Kappler were imprisoned here). Now it is a property of Gaeta’s municipality, which uses it for conferences and exhibitions. In the dome of the tallest tower is the Royal Chapel, built by King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies in 1849.
• The Mausoleum of Lucius Munatius Plancus (22 BCE) is a cylindrical travertine monument at the top of Monte Orlando (168 m). It stands at 13.20 m and has a diameter of 29.50 m. Another important Roman public man, Lucius Sempronius Atratinus, Mark Antony‘s fleet commander, has a mausoleum sited in the more recent district of Gaeta: of similar diameter; it is, however not as well preserved.
• The Sanctuary of SS. Trinità was mentioned as early as the 11th century and visited, among the others, by St. Francis and Saint Philip Neri. The Crucifix Chapel was built in 1434 over a rock which had fallen from the nearby cliffs. From the sanctuary, the Grotta del Turco can be visited: it is a grotto which ends directly in the sea and where the waves create atmospheric effects of light.
• Sanctuary of Santissima Annunziata – A church and adjacent hospital were built at the site in the 14th century but rebuilt at the beginning of the 17th century in Baroque style by Andrea Lazzari. It houses works by Renaissance painters including Andrea Sabbatini and GF Criscuolo; as well as late-Baroque artists such as Luca Giordano, Sebastiano Conca and Giacinto Brandi. The church has a Gothic-style sarcophagus of Enrico Caracciolo. Also notable is the Golden Chapel or Grotto, a Renaissance-style chapel where Pope Pius IX meditated before issuing the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The ceiling is gilded, and the walls contain 19 canvases (1531) by Criscuolo. The main altarpiece is an Immacolata by Scipione Pulzone.
• San Giovanni a Mare – The church was initially built outside the old sea walls by the hypate Giovanni IV in the 10th century. It combines the basilica form with the Byzantine one. The simple façade has a Gothic portal and a dome, while the interior has a nave with two aisles. The inner pavement is slightly inclined to allow waters to flow away in the case of maritime floods.
• The Cathedral of Assunta e Sant’Erasmo was erected over a more ancient church, Santa Maria del Parco, and consecrated by Pope Paschal II in 1106: it had a nave with six aisles separated by columns with Gothic capitals. In 1778, however, two of the aisles were suppressed, and the Gothic lines were hidden. In the 13th century, Moorish arches were added over the capitals. In 1663 the crypt was decorated in Baroque style. The interior houses a banner from the Battle of Lepanto, donated by Pope Pius V to Don John of Austria, who used it as his admiral’s flag. The main sight of the church is, however, the marble Paschal candelabrum, standing 3.50 m tall, from the late 13th century: it is in Romanesque style, decorated with 48 reliefs in 4 vertical rows, telling the Stories of the Life of Jesus. There are also paintings by Giacinto Brandi and Giovanni Filippo Criscuolo. The cathedral contains the relics of St. Erasmus, transferred from Formia; the remarkable campanile, in Arab-Norman style, dates from the 12th century. At the base are slabs and parts of columns from ancient Roman edifices.
• The Cathedral has a great bell tower, standing at 57 m, which is considered the city’s finest piece of art. The base has two marble lions, and the whole construction largely reused ancient Roman architectural elements. The upper part, octagonal in plan, with small Romanesque arches with majolica decoration, was completed in 1279.
• The Chapel of the Crucifix is a curiosity: built on a huge mass of rock that hangs like a wedge between two adjoining walls of rock. Legend tells how the rock was thus split at Christ’s death.
• San Francesco – According to the legend, the church was constructed by the saint himself in 1222. In reality, Frederick II ordered the construction. The church features a fine Gothic-Italian style and hosts paintings and sculptures by many of the most famous Neapolitan artists.
• The parish church of Santa Lucia, the former St. Maria in Pensulis, was once a Royal chapel and here prayed Margaret of Durazzo and King Ladislaus. It originally had Romanesque and Sicilian-Arab lines, but in 1456 it was rebuilt in Renaissance style and 1648 adapted to a Baroque one. The site has a Mediaeval pronaos with ancient fragments and figures of animals.
• The Medieval Quarter of Gaeta is itself of interest. It lies on the steep sides of Mount Orlando and has characteristic houses from the 11th-13th centuries.
• The Temple of St. Francis, a church located in the historic center of the city.

Gaeta is also the centre of the Regional Park of Riviera di Ulisse, which includes Mount Orlando, Gianola and the Scauri Mounts, and the two promontories of Torre Capovento and Tiberius‘ Villa in Sperlonga.

Read more on Wikivoyage Gaeta and Wikipedia Gaeta (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.