Visit Terracina
Terracina is found on the coast in the southern part of the Lazio region in central Italy.
The upper town in Terracina is set around the central square, the old 'Foro Emiliano', and the center of Terracina in Roman times. It is now the seat of the San Cesareo Cathedral and Town Hall. The ancient Roman Forum was crossed along its northern edge by the Appian Way - the square still retains the old paving slabs of limestone, on which are preserved the inscription in bronze letters of the local magistrate who ordered its execution (Aulus Aemilius).
The cathedral that incorporated the main temple was built and consecrated to “San Cesareo” in 1074, while the bell tower and portico date from the 12th-13th centuries, with column drums from ancient Roman buildings being reused in the building. The interior has three naves divided by columns, and a Cosmatesque floor. In the early eighteenth century a vaulted roof was added to the interior.
On the right side of the cathedral overlooking the square there is the 13th century Palazzo Vinditti, while on the southern side of the square stands the Tower of the Rose (XII-XIII century). Between the tower and the church is the Bishop's Palace, originally dating from the Carolingian period and renovated in the Middle Ages - in the 17th century it was renovated by Bishop Cesare Ventimiglia (1615-1645), and then again in 1786 by Pope Pius VI (1717-1799).
In a dominant position in Terracina is the castle of the Frangipane, built in various phases from the end of the tenth century to the 15th century. Severely damaged by bombing in World War II it now only retains the central tower, the oldest part, and a part of the south wing.
Several other town houses in Terracina date back to the Middle age. You can see some fortified tower houses or houses with Gothic lancet windows and sometimes external stairs with galleries that date from the twelfth or thirteenth centuries while other buildings are due to the restructuring of medieval houses - the rebirth of the city during the 18th-19th centuries led to restructuring and amalgamations of groups of these medieval houses.
The lower part of the city had two moments of expansion. The first was under the Romans, between the port and the fertile agricultural valley to the northwest (especially between the first century BC and AD), and the second mainly in the 19th-20th centuries. It is to the Roman period that the so-called 'Foro Severiano' belongs, with an amphitheater, and the villa called "Neptune Thermae".
Terracina cuisine
Around Terracina there are many traditional restaurants. The local cuisine represents a meeting between land and sea products. The sea is evident in dishes like the fried fish, fish soup and spaghetti with anchovies, whose main ingredient is the tasty blue fishfound in the Tyrrhenian coast. Meanwhile the Pontine plain offers delicious specialties such as buffalo mozzarella, wine, strawberries and Muscat. The recipes of the sweets are very ancient, such as 'Casatella' (sweet cottage cheese and coffee), donuts, wine and, finally, the "Tortolo", a traditional Easter cake.
See also history of Terracina