The first time I went to Fondi in the sixties, my heart sank: I had found a gem there, badly treated by time. During the last war, it had been bombed by the Allies, on the false intelligence (why is it called “intelligence”?) that it contained a German garrison. There were only a small number of German soldiers recuperating from their wounds. But what the bombs did not destroy, the locals, after the war, managed to spoil with insensitive reconstruction. Fondi, however, deserved better luck, since it is unique in many ways. To start with, it is a perfect square of Roman walls largely intact although incorporated in parts into modern dwellings. Some of the turrets at the corners—solid Roman works—are still occupied.
The Decumanus Maximus, the central axis of the square, is called, to this day, the Via Appio Claudio, which immediately alerts us to the ancient history of the town: it is part of the most crucial consular road in Italy, the Via Appia (Appian Way). This gave Fondi a strategic position which the Romans required, and which allowed the Fondani to negotiate with them the Roman Citizenship. Fondi became one of the first Italian towns to obtain it. And since we are on the Via Appia let’s move along it towards the South. The next town, some fifteen kilometres away, is Itri, a hilltop village, whereas Fondi is built on a vast fertile plain which includes three lakes. We have to follow the road via Appia Nuova, which is still on the plain at the beginning. The good thing is that after a few miles this new road parallels the old one, which becomes visible. Moreover, the old classical road was the only one available until around the nineteenth century, and to make it less bumpy for the coaches then in use it was covered in dirt. Quite recently this dirt was removed for a little over a kilometre, making the Roman flags visible and, joy of joys, making it possible to walk on them (which, when I first did, brought tears to my eyes – a fifty-years’ old dream at last realised).
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