Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FONDI (anc. Fundi)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 604 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

FONDI (anc. Fundi) , a See also:town of See also:Campania, See also:Italy, in the See also:province of See also:Caserta, 12 M. N.W. of See also:Formia, and 11 m. E.N.E. of See also:Terracina by road. Pop. (1901) 9930. It lies 25 ft. above See also:sea-level, at the N. end of a See also:plain surrounded by mountains, which extend to the sea. It occupies the site of the See also:ancient Fundi, a Volscian town, belonging later to See also:Latium adjectum, on the Via See also:Appia, still represented by the See also:modern high-road which passes through the centre of the town. It is rectangular in See also:plan, and portions of its walls, partly in See also:fine polygonal See also:work and partly in See also:opus incertum, are preserved. Both plan and walls date, no doubt, from the See also:Roman See also:period. The See also:gate on the See also:north-See also:east still exists, and bears the inscription of three aediles who erected the gate, the towers and the See also:wall. A similar inscription. of three different aediles from the N.W. gate still exists, but not in situ.

In the neighbourhood are the remains of several ancient villas, and along the Via Appia still stands an ancient wall of opus reticulatum, with an inscription, in large letters, of one Varronianus, the letters being at intervals of 25 ft. The See also:

engineering of the ancient Via Appia between Fondi and Formia, where it passes through the mountains near See also:Itri, is remarkable. The modern town is still enclosed by the ancient walls. The See also:castle on the S.E. See also:side has some 15th-See also:century windows with beautiful See also:tracery. See also:Close by is the See also:Gothic See also:church of S. Pietro (formerly S. Maria), which was the See also:cathedral until the see was suppressed in 1818 and See also:united with that of See also:Gaeta; it contains a fine See also:pulpit with " cosmatesque " work and the fine See also:tomb of Cristoforo Caetani (1439), two interesting 15th-century triptychs and an episcopal See also:throne, whicn served for the See also:coronation of the antipope See also:Clement VII. in 1378. In the Dominican monastery the See also:cell which St See also:Thomas See also:Aquinas sometimes occupied is shown. The ancient See also:city of Fundi in 338 B.C. (or 332) received (with Formiae) the civitas sine suffragio, because it had always secured the See also:Romans safe passage through its territory; the See also:people as a whole did not join Privernum in its See also:war against See also:Rome three years later, though See also:Vitruvius Vacca, the See also:leader, was a native of Fundi. It acquired the full citizenship in 188 B.C., and was partly under the See also:control of a praefectus. The inscription upon some waterpipes which have been discovered shows that later it became a See also:municipium.

It was governed by three aediles: See also:

Horace's jest against the officious See also:praetor (sic) is due to the exigencies of See also:metre (Th. See also:Mommsen in See also:Hermes, xiii. p. 113). The See also:family of Livia, the See also:consort of See also:Augustus, belonged to Fundi. During the Lombard invasions in 592 Fundi was temporarily abandoned, but it seems to have come under the See also:rule of the papacy by A.D. 754 at any See also:rate. See also:Pope See also:John VIII. ceded it with its territory to Docibile, See also:duke of Gaeta, but its See also:history is some-what intricate after this period. Sometimes it appears as an See also:independent countship, though held by members of the Caetani family, who about 1297 returned to it. In 1504 it was given to Prospero See also:Colonna. In 1534 Khair-ed-Din See also:Barbarossa tried to carry off Giulia See also:Gonzaga, countess of Fondi, and sacked the city. After this Fondi was much neglected; in 1721 it was sold to the Di Sangro family, in which it still remains. Its position as a frontier town between the papal states and the See also:kingdom of See also:Naples, just in the territory of the latter—the Via Appia can easily be blocked either N.W. at the actual frontier called Portella1 or S.E. of it—affected it a See also:good See also:deal during the See also:French Revolution and the events which led up to the unification of Italy.

The Lago di Fondi, which lies in the See also:

middle of the plain, and the partially drained marshes surrounding it, compelled the ancient Via Appia, followed by the modern road, to make a considerable detour. The See also:lake was also known in classical times as lacus Amyclanus, from the town of Amyclae or Amunclae, which was founded, according to See also:legend, by Spartan colonists, and probably destroyed by the Oscans in the 5th century B.C. (E. Pais in Rendiconti dei Lincei, 1906, 611 seq.); the See also:bay was also known as See also:mare Amunclanum. The ancient Speluncae (mod. Sperlonga) on the See also:coast also belonged to the territory of Fundi. Here was the imperial See also:villa in which See also:Sejanus saved the See also:life of Tiberius, who was almost crushed by a fall of See also:rock. Considerable remains of it, and of the caves from which it took its name, still exist 1 m. S.E. of the modern See also:village. For modern discoveries see P. di Tucci in Notizie degli scavi (1880), 480; G. Patroni, ibid. (1898), 493.

The See also:

wine of Fundi is spoken of by ancient writers, though the alter Caecubus, the coast plain See also:round the Lago di Fundi, was even more renowned, and Horace frequently praises its wine; and though See also:Pliny the See also:Elder speaks as if its See also:production had almost entirely ceased in his See also:day (attributing this to neglect, but even more to the excavation See also:works of See also:Nero's projected See also:canal from the lacus See also:Avernus to See also:Ostia), See also:Martial mentions it often, and it is spoken of in the inscription of a wine-dealer of the See also:time of See also:Hadrian, together with Falernian and Setian wines (Corpus inscript. See also:Lat. vi. See also:Berlin, 1882, 9797). The plain of Fondi is the northernmost point in Italy where the cultivation of oranges and lemons is regularly carried on in modern times. See G. See also:Conte Colino, Storia di Fondi (Naples, 1902) B. Am- ante and R. Bianchi, Memorie storiche e statutarie di Fondi in Campania (Rome, 1903) ; T. See also:Ashby, in See also:English See also:Historical See also:Review, xix. (1904) 557 seq. (T.

End of Article: FONDI (anc. Fundi)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FOND DU LAC 		[next]
FONNI

Site © 2006 - Net Industries