Minturno is a city and
comune in the southern
Lazio,
Italy, situated on the north west bank of the
Liris (also known as the
Garigliano), with a suburb on the opposite bank c. 18 kilometers from its mouth, at the point where the
Via Appia crossed it by the bridge called
Pons Tiretius.
It has a station on the
Rome-
Naples main railway line.
History
The ancient
Minturnae was one of the three towns of the Ausoni which made war against
Rome in 314 BC, the other two being called Ausona (modern
Sessa Aurunca) and
Vescia; and the Via Appia was made two years later.
It became a colony in 296 BC.
In 88 BC,
Gaius Marius hid himself in the marshes of Minturnae in his flight from
Sulla.
The city was probably destroyed again in 883 by the
Saracens, who in the following years held the circumstant plain. Its low site was increasingly abandoned by the population in favour of that of the modern town of
Minturno (known as
Traetto until the 19th century), 140 m above sea-level.
They were ousted by the Catholic league after the
Battle of Garigliano (915), and Minturnae passed to
Gaeta. Two years later, however, it was again ravaged by the
Magyars. In 1058 it was partly acquired by the
Abbey of Montecassino, but soon later was conquered by the
Normans.
In the 13th century it went to Richard V dell'Aquila, duchy of Gaeta. Subsequently it was a Caetani possession, and later assigned by
Charles VIII of France to his general
Prospero Colonna. It was a Carafa fief until 1806, and was integrated in the
Kingdom of Italy on
October 30,
1861.
Minturno was part of the
Gustav Line during the
Second World War, and suffered heavy bombings.
Main sights
Roman remains
The Roman ruins consist of an
amphitheatre (now almost entirely demolished, but better preserved in the 18th century), a theatre in
opus reticulatum, and a very fine
aqueduct in
opus reticulatum, the quoins of which are of various colours arranged in patterns to produce a decorative effect. There is also a statue commonly called of
Sepeone (
Scipio), from the Late Empire age.
The
Thermae of Suio, some kilometers outside the city, are known since very ancient times, as they are cited by both
Pliny the Elder and
Lucanus. They are still exploited. The place were the site of a
battle between
France and
Spain in 1503.
Close to the mouth of the river was the sacred grove of the Italic goddess
Marica.
Other sights
- The church of St. Francis, built around 1320 by Roffredo III Caetani, nephew of Pope Boniface VIII
- The church of Annunziata (c. 1300), damaged by the Turks pirates in 1552, by the French-Polish troops in 1799 and by a fire in 1888. In 1930 a restoration removed all the Baroque additions and showed the presence of ancient frescoes.
- The church of St. Peter (9th-12th centuries). The façade is preceded by a staircase and a porch with 4 arcades (14th century). The interior has a nave and two aisles divided by tall columns with ogival arcs. The right aisle houses the notable Baroque Sacrament Chapel (1587), decorated with polychrome marbles. Other artpcieces include a candelabre (1264) with mosaic decoration, and the Pergagum, with antique columns and 13th century mosaics. It has a three-floor belfry.
The Bourbon bridge on the Garigliano.
The fraction of Scauri, on the
Gulf of Gaeta, takes its name from the Roman
consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, who had a sumptuous villa here. It has some notable ancient watchtowers, including the
Torre Saracena, at the mouth of the river Garigliano, erected between 961 and 981, commemorates a victory gained by
Pope John X and his allies over the Saracens in 915 (see
battle of Garigliano). It is built of
Roman materials from Minturnae, including several inscriptions and sculptures.
Homonym
Antonio Sebastiano Minturno (1559 in Ugento, 1565 in Cotrone) was a polished Italian writer and poet.
Emigrants
In the early 20th century, many residents of Minturno and the villages around it emigrated to
Stamford,
Connecticut, in the United States. A club for Minturnese immigrants, the Minturno Social Club was founded in the
West Side of Stamford in 1939 (and has since moved to the Springdale district) and only made up of members whose families hailed from Minturno, had 120 members in 2007. A Minturnese tradition, the
Festa de la Regna ("Festival of Wheat") celebration of harvest day and honoring the
Madonna delle Grazie, is still honored in Stamford with an annual procession.
[Stelloh, Tim, "Festival brings minturno to the fore: People with links to Italian region carry on ancient customes", article in The Advocate, of Stamford, Connecticut, July 9, 2007, page A7, Stamford edition]There is also a Minturno social club in the Woodbridge section of Toronto, Canada.
Michael Fedele, the lieutenant governor of Connecticut, was born in Minturno in 1955.Twin towns
Sources and references
