| 
The South Pontino countryside
few miles north-west of Terracina | |
Newsletter February 2008
Italy countryside: The South Pontino in Latium
Topic : Itineraries
The springtime in Italy is long and sweet. Even at its first blush, life in Italy seems more beautiful and warm enough to enjoy outdoor. Sunny days invite to the discovery of different landscapes with a captivating countryside coupled with excellent weather for many days each spring. The springtime is southern Latium (Lazio) can begin as early as March and the weather may stay warm up to late October.
|
|
The nearness to sea mitigates the winter on hills and plains all along the coastline starting from the lakes in the
Circeo
area to the
Gulf of Gaeta .
The inland territory is the one where most of the ancient rural world and countryside are preserved still like our grandfathers time.
Most of
South Pontino
is hilly and many of its picturesque medieval villages are nestled over hills and
mountains .
The nearness of these mountains to the sea is an uncommon and almost unique geographic attribute to this territory washed by the sea for its entire length, but also flanked by a parallel range of sunny hills and rugged mountains. It is the variety of landscapes which characterizes the typical countryside of South Pontino. The lowlands north west of the Ausoni Mountains soon after the town of Pontinia are very different from the valleys and the hills between the Ausoni and the
Aurunci Mountains .
The hills and mountains
towards the sea
are also different from the countryside inland which is only few miles away from the sea.
Stepping into the real countryside of the South Pontino for the first time is like stepping into a fairytale. The variety of South Pontino’s
landscape
is like a combination shaped with slices of Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Campania’s countryside.
 Click Here to see the Photos of the Newsletter
|
|
Large areas of the South Pontino hills are fields where nature took over back ancient man-made cultivated terraces where the shadow of old olive trees shares the landscape with Field Maples (Acer campestris), Sycamore trees (Acer pseudoplatanus) and Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum).
The Italians are essentially an urban people, for whom 'civilization' means, literally, a cultured, urban city lifestyle. The ancient Romans themselves were
great builders ,
warriors and law-makers, but they did not do much for agriculture. For 2,000 years
life in the Italian countryside
was generally one of hard, back-breaking work for all the peasants except a minority of lucky, rich and powerful landowners.
|
Water buffaloes farm in the
north-west of South Pontino near Fogliano
|
|
What’s more, here too in southern Lazio, the South Pontino experienced the Italian post-war exodus from the land to the large cities. Here it was the nearby Rome above all in the list. Here why many ‘urbanized’ 2nd or 3rd generation citizens of Rome feel so attached to their countryside. The urban mass departure left empty vast areas of the Italian countryside landscape dotted with the ruins of abandoned farms and even entire villages. As other parts in the south of Italy, the South Pontino it is so unspoilt, not touristy at all. A real joy to discover slowly for all nature and rural heritage lovers.
The nearness to Rome and its
millenary legacy
with the eternal city make of southern territory of Latium (Lazio in Italian) a land of an ancient, timeless beauty and charm. This countryside so close to the sea is one hour by train from Rome and dotted with many
archaeological treasures
like sections of ancient Roman roads,
Roman monuments
and villas scattered with an incredible number of ruins with over 2000 years of Roman history. It’s not unusual to explore the countryside and find suddenly that you have stepped into a section of an
ancient Roman road
and or into ruins of a Roman Villa or a Longobard village.
Click Here to see the Photos of the Newsletter
|
| 
Countryside fields between Sperlonga and Fondi | |
Foreign travelers were often in love with this countryside. The Grand Tour writers and artists considered this countryside as a source of intellectual inspiration and stimulation. Many of them were captured by the vast, empty Agro Romano and Southern Latium countryside, with the rugged forms of its inland hills and mountains as well as by the marvelous coasts with
rocky cliffs
and white sand beaches between the
Circeo Promontory
and the medieval seaside town of
Gaeta .
In the inland countryside between the villages of
Itri ,
Campodimele ,
Lenola, Pico and Esperia small rural cottages and terraced village homes appear here and there in this rustic countryside and steep-sided wooded valleys.
Chestnut and European Oak trees provide their majestic shadow as the hills grow higher. Quaint villages resting in the shadows of mountain crags and ruined fortresses are home to local people who still live according to rural tradition and who don't use or need every modern amenity that life has to offer.
|
|
Country homes
quite often bring a bit of atmosphere to living with fireplaces and thick stone walls. Here, in the countryside inland between the Ausoni and Aurunci hills and mountains, the winter can be harsh at times.
The red and gold of autumn sometimes leaves space to the regal splendor of snow-capped mountain peaks offering awe-inspiring scenery that frames fields and hills.
In the lowlands of Fondi’s plain, closer to the coast, the landscape is less more man-made with large cultivated fields but equally serene and beautiful. Here, the pristine beauty of small crystal blue lakes offers serenity and peace like an oasis in the desert. Without the chiller hillside evenings and mornings and closer to the sea, here a different flora: blankets of olive groves, date palms, and gardens with lemons and oranges and banana trees. All around there is a luscious Mediterranean green covering the sunnier hillsides towards the sea and suggesting a warmer and relaxing climate. Among the gardens, aromatic scents of azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, and colorful field wildflowers invigorate the soul to new heights.
Click Here to see the photos of the Newsletter
|
|
The South Pontino countryside is stunning in its simple, timeless beauty, with its
historic villages
and towns; the archaeological and cultural treasures are everywhere and amazingly ancient and the
local organic food
and
wine
more wonderful than ever. In the springtime, not too hot like in the summer, the weather is beautiful, and the smell of the blossoms is overpowering. Small villages enjoy a peaceful life with lots of wine related harvest events. These landscapes of South Pontino are what’s left of the real country and they are what real Italy is about. The countryside is where people can often enjoy the beauty of Italian landscapes and the most genuine Italian rural culture and heritage. Fields after fields of wheat, vineyards,
olive groves
and harvesting blending with the wilder Mediterranean nature of the South Pontino mountains.
|
Springtime in the fields between the villages of Itri and Campodimele
|
|
There is something special in exploring landscapes framed in early morning scenes with farmhouses in the mists rising from the hills.
Whether in word or line, a large number of European and American poets and artists have celebrated the Campagna Romana, the lushly verdant volcanic plain and southern hills outside Rome. Among them whom have tried over the years to capture its beauty have been the diaries, drawings and paintings by Master Cole between 1831 and 1842. Italy is the place where the history, the countryside, the food, the style, and the people make you want to return again and again.
Click Here to see the photos of the Newsletter
|
| 
Countryside road few miles north of Sperlonga towards Itri and Fondi | |
Italian Countryside in the South Pontino
Suggested Itinerary – February 2008
Generally speaking the best time to travel Italy would be late spring (end May-early June) or early fall (end Sept.-till late October). Driving from Gaeta on the SS213 towards Formia turn right on Via Canzatore up to a left turn for the Via Appia SS7 direction North-west to the village of Itri. Once on the village high street a right turn on the SS82. As you pass across the last homes of Itri a placid and sunny countryside will unveil. The SS82 climbs over the fist Aurunci hills and becomes a scenic road with great views.
This sunny and generous land was well known to the Romans since after they started to
expand
outside the Alban Hills in the 4th century BC. A mile after Itri many small countryside roads departs from the provincial road SS82; very small country roads like the Strada comunale Raino (about 1,5 miles north of Itri on the left side of the SS82) lead also to the beautiful and ancient
Sanctuary della Madonna di Civita .
Few miles later on the SS82 many more country roads departs on the left side like the Strada vicinale del piano or Via San Barbato both leading towards the beautiful SP99 (strada provinciale 99) which goes towards the small village of Lenola.
|
|
You can either decide to visit the countryside in the area of Campodimele, both the long valley under the village and the hills around offer an incredibly beautiful landscape where the countryside and fields begins to be hillside forest.
The SS82 continues in this long valley where you can either decide to go north-west to visit the villages of Lenola and Pastena village with its gigantic caves of choose to climb the narrow road up the hills of Via Faggeto just before arriving into the village of Campodimele. Either way you will explore stunning landscapes where the equally beautiful human-shaped countryside blends with the edges of the forest. This is only one of the many itineraries as the South Pontino covers a quite vast area from north to south. Highly recommended for nature, rural landscapes and
bird watching
lovers.
|
|
Go to the newsletters' archive
Search with this topic
Subscribe to the South Pontino Ezine
Refer a Friend
back to the top
