VILLA CAPRI

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FONDI'S PAST

Fondi, an Italic town, maybe Etruscan, and Volsci, already in 338 a.C obtained minor Roman citizenship,but did not obtain full citizenship until the end of 188 a.C. After the fall of the Roman Empire the town, like the rest of the peninsula, was firstly devastated by the Barbaric invasions and then by the Greek-Gothic war. It was part of Byzantine territory from the VI to VIII century, when it passed into the hands of the Papacy, which a century later gave it to the Duke of Gaeta in exchange for promising to defend the lands of the Saracen Church. In 1140 Fondi passed over to the Counts of Aquila, of Norman origin, and became a County of the Norman reign of Sicily. In 1299 the last Aquila heir, Giovanna, married a Caetani, Roffredo III. Thus began the reign of the Caetani, which was to last two centuries and during which Fondi was a town of great splendor. In 1378 Onorato I Caetani gave hospitality to the Conclave from which was elected the antipope Clemite VII, an event which gave rise to the Schism of the West. One of the most important Caetani at Fondi was Onorato II, who governed the town from 1441 to 1491. He promoted intense construction, calling up the best artistic workers of southern Italy. On the death of Onorato II his successors lost the County of Fondi, which was given by Ferdinando II to Prospero Colonna, whose son Vespasiano, in 1526, married the beautiful Giulia Gonzaga, who at only 17 was widowed inheriting the County. An educated and intelligent woman, she transformed Fondi into a splendid Renaissance court, but she was also the cause, nevertheless, of terrible misfortune, when on the night of 8th August 1534, the pirate fleet Kair and Din came to abduct the Countess, who managed to escape. The pirates took their anger out on Fondi, Terracina and Sperlonga which were barbarically looted. The city never recovered from the devastation committed by the Turks: in the following two centuries it became depopulated, also on account of the continuous malaria outbreaks. At the end of the XVI century the feud of Fondi passed over to the Carafa family and subsequently to the Mansfelds and the Sangros, who did little to improve the situation. In 1806, the feudal system abolished, Fondi became a municipality and slowly began to recover. During the II World War, being in a strategic position on the defense line Gustav, it suffered numerous aerial bombings by the Allies who reduced it to a pile of rubble. Today it is a thriving town of 36,000 inhabitants, with a prosperous economy based prevailingly on commerce, tertiary, and tourism.

Dott.ssa Paola De Luca