Monte San Biagio

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Comune di Monte San Biagio
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Lazio
Province	Latina (LT)
Mayor	Gesualdo Mirabella (since June 2004)
Elevation	133 m
Area	66 km²
Population
- Total	5,991
- Density	91/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	41°21′N, 13°21′E
Gentilic	Monticellani
Dialing code	0771
Postal code	04020
Frazioni	Campo Marinella, Pieterte, San Vito, Valle Viola Bassa, Vallemarina, Vallemarina Iannace, Vallemarina Scorzaro
Patron	St. Blaise
- Day	February 3
Website: www.comune.montesanbiagio.lt.it

Monte San Biagio is a town and commune in the province of Latina, in southern Lazio (Italy). It is located on the slope of a hill part of the Monti Ausoni.

[edit] History and main sights

The Roman presence in Monte San Biagio's territory is testified by the presence of mausoleum attributed to Emperor Galba, a native of the area (but probably belonging to Sextus Iulius Frontinus, who had a great villa in the neighbourhood). The Roman defeated the Samnites here, at the Passo della Portella: in the place a fortified gate was built, which was later used as border customs of the Kingdom of Naples. A watchtower of the times of Pope Sixtus V is also not far.

The origins of the current city date back from the Middle Ages, when a castle was founded (over Roman ruins) here as a stronghold of the Duchy of Gaeta first and, later, of the Duchy of Fondi. The first document mentioning the Castrum Monticelli, however, is from 1099, from the archives of Monte Cassino. In the following centuries it was a fief of Fondi, a possession of the dell'Aquila family from 1145. Later it was ruled by the Colonna, the Carafa, the Mansfeld and the Di Sangro, as art of the Kingdom of Naples.

In the winter of 1788 it was sacked by the French army, while, after the Bourbon restoration and the subsequent unification of Italy, the neighbourhood was the base of brigantage. In 1862 the name was first changed to Monte San Vito and, soon later, to the current Monte San Biagio.

[edit] Transportation

Monte San Biagio lies next to the Via Appia, once the main road from Rome to Campania. It is also connected by a branch of the Via Flacca from Terracina to Gaeta.

The city is served by a railway station on the mainline Rome-Naples.

[edit] Twin cities

• Saint-Romain-le-Puy, France