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The Castle of Monte San Biagio: the triangular tower overlooking the Fondi plain
The Castle of Monte San Biagio, standing tall at the highest point of the village, commands the Fondi plain, the lake and the sea as far as the Pontine Islands. A strategic position exploited by the Lombards as early as the 7th century, who built the fortress on the remains of a Roman structure — which may have been a temple, or an earlier fortification. The first document to mention it dates to 1099, but the structure we see today is the result of centuries of interventions: the Carolingians first, then the Caetani. Count Onorato II expanded and fortified it when the family took control in 1299.
A tower unlike any other
The ground plan is trapezoidal, adapted to the profile of the rock. On the north side are two towers: a circular one, now incorporated into the houses of the village, and a semicircular one resting on a triangular base. The latter — the so-called Torre Triangolare — makes the castle unique: buildings of this shape are extremely rare in Italy. On the south-west side, a third pyramidal tower completes the defensive system.
Centre of a system of walls and outposts
The castle did not stand alone. It formed part of a defensive network that included the town walls, barriers and guard posts. The three historic gates — San Rocco, San Vito and Porta del Castello — still today mark the entrances to the ancient medieval nucleus.
