This content was automatically translated. View the original text.
St Remigius Fountain: a Roman resting place on the Appian Way with views over the Gulf of Gaeta
Along the Appian Way, near Formia, there is a place that tells stories two thousand years old. We are not talking about a temple, but a fountain: Fontana di San Remigio. Picture Roman travellers, weary and sun-scorched, stopping here not only for fresh water, but for a truly unique spectacle: the breathtaking panorama overlooking the Gulf of Gaeta.
The fountain of the Sun and the Moon
This was no ordinary fountain. The water flowed from two carved mascarons, one depicting the sun and the other the moon. A powerful symbol: day and night, time flowing ceaselessly, just like the water itself. An ingenious system of upstream basins ensured a perennial flow — a small marvel of Roman hydraulic engineering that remained in full working order until the 1960s.
A stop with a view
Its purpose was practical: a watering hole for men and animals travelling along one of the most important roads of the ancient world. But its setting made it truly special. It stands on an original stretch of the Appian Way, and is still paved with its basalt cobblestones, from where the entire gulf could be seen, as far as the great Mausoleum of Plancus crowning Monte Orlando. It was a stop to restore both the body and eyes.
Its modern name derives from the nearby church of San Remigio (St Remigius), built in 1490, but its soul remains that of a precious resting place along the great Roman road.
