30 km from the beaches of Sperlonga, just beyond the border between Latina and Frosinone provinces, there is Pastena, a castle of volscian origin rebirth in 1227 under the rule of the Del Drago family. This place is famous for the carsian caves of national interest.

The descent to the caves allows visitors to get in touch with a natural environment that is million of years old, where human intervention was limited to the creation of a safe path in the rock.
The characteristics of the huge cave were determined by the erosive action of a stream of water.
The Cave is divided into two stumps: a fossil one, 900 metres long, allows a detailed tour of the cave and presents wide cavities (weeping-willow hall, tile hall, wonder hall, column hall and torment hall) and the main attractions; an active one, accessible trough a 200 metres staircase, which after 2000 metres, lead to the Sacco valley and Falvaterra. Such a natural beauty was discovered in the beginning of 1900 thanks to Carlo Franchetti, a roman baron, who, helped by the capital speleological group, allowed a greater accessibility and a livelier naturalistic interest.

The “Montagna Spaccata” (broken mountain) is one of the most suggestive spot of Gaeta, visited each year by tourists who are enchanted by the three cracks of the mountain. The place encloses a beautiful itinerary.

The Sanctuary of Holy Trinity, built in XI century, is known in history because here had prayed numerous popes, among which Pio IX, kings, bishops and saints, among which Bernard from Siena, Ignatius of Loyola, Leonard from Porto Maurizio and Saint Philip Neri. Just 18 km from Sperlonga, the legend says that Saint Philip Neri lived inside the Montagna Spaccata where is a stone bed still today known as “the bed of Saint Philip Neri”. On the rocky walls is possible to admire some majolica paintings representing the stations of Via Crucis dating back to 1849 and ascribed to Bernard from Siena.
Obviously the itinerary contemplate even a visit to the suggestive “Cave of the Turkish”, linked to an ancient religious tradition, according to which it was created at the death of Jesus, and to various other folk beliefs. Among these latter there is the one talking about the handprint of a turkish sailor on a rock.
Along the stair leading in the heart of the mountain, along the tight crack in the rock, on the right, you can admire a latin inscription and above it a creepy handprint imprint in the rock. The legend says it belonged to a turkish sailor, not catholic and skeptical about the origins of the sacred cracks of the mountain. But as soon as he puts his hand on the rock that melted immediately leaving the detailed imprint of his hand, still visible today.
The setting of this particular natural environment do not exclude the possibility that in the cave, in the Middle Ages, find shelter some Saracen pirates waiting to attack passing ships to steal their cargo.

It is a small island, absolute and slow. Absolute its sea, its intense blue, but also its absolute earth, its fruits.
A little more than two kilometers of volcanic land, crossed by a long history 2000 years, looks like the outline of a whale seen from a distance, surrounded by sea and dotted with soft colors of low houses.
Ventotene gives deep emotions, and in every season offers the ultimate expression of what is a Mediterranean island. Winters silent, underlined by the wind and the sound of footsteps of its few inhabitants. Spring exploding sudden, revealing in the middle of a land essential fragrances and rich colors, to live with all senses alert. Sunny summers, with the sea star above and below, with depths of the most beautiful in the Mediterranean also accessible only for a swim, the few beaches, cliffs fragile in flux.
An island life made of slow rhythms, dating rituals at the bar, in the square, the harbor, the chatter under the arbor of country houses, an island where everyone can find his favorite corner. The nights are really starry, all living in small and never excessive local island, or walking to discover quiet corners, but especially in the freedom of each to invent magical nights.
The transition between summer and autumn is through the best party, Santa Candida patron saint of the island. The season is mild, after the summer everything comes together, the days still warm and full of memories offer an extension of the season to be exploited until a fund.

The town of Ninfa takes its name from a little temple dedicated to the nymphs during the Roman period, built on one of the most abundant springs at the foot of the Lepini Hills. These waters gave life to the original river Nymphaeus. Of the abandoned medieval town there remain today an imposing double wall and the ruins of a castle, churches, municipal buildings and many private dwellings. As in the past, water is still the key to Ninfa’s survival.
Ninfa had a significant economic and strategic identity as early as the 8th century. This came about due to the flooding and impassability of a stretch of the Appian Way between Cisterna and Terracina and the consequent spread of malaria. A water dam, seen to this day at Ninfa, is an example of advanced engineering from early times

After a quick flight back to Rome, we drive an hour south to Anzio, one of four towns where ferries leave for Ponza, eponym of the Pontines and the archipelago’s main destination. Compared to the bustling ferry docks in Naples that service Capri, Anzio’s is tiny and refined, attended to by valets in orange shirts. The seven Pontine Islands were a regular stomping ground for Roman emperors beginning with Augustus. These days, they are a haven for sailors, like our Italian friend Marsillio, who calls the area the most beautiful place he has ever visited. En route to Ponza on the 70-minute ferry ride, we spot Zannone, once a private hunting forest and now a plant and wildlife refuge; Ventotene, with its old Roman port, Neapolitan-style town, and ruined imperial villa; and Santo Stefano, dominated by the crumbling remains of an 18th-century prison designed like the circles of Dante’s Inferno.

15 km away from Sperlonga
Among the most interesting monuments in Terracina as the Temple of Jupiter Anxur, also known as the Temple of Jupiter Anxur. The Monte Sant’Angelo dominates with its height the town of Terracina and is home, since ancient times, the buildings used to vote. The oldest building on the votive Monte Sant’Angelo dates back to the second century BC, and is known as Small Tempio.L’imperdibile view enjoyed from the Temple dominates from its 227 meters the town of Terracina, the Pontine plain, the Circeo, the sea with the Pontine islands and Ischia.