Discover Gaeta

Gaeta is a comune of about 19,100 people in the province of Latina, in Lazio, set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta. It is 133 kilometres south of Rome and 96.5 kilometres north of Naples.

The gulf it names runs from the promontory of the Circeo to Capo Miseno on the Tyrrhenian Sea, and between the districts of Gaeta Vecchia and Serapo rises Monte Orlando.

It has three identities at once. It is a seaside resort; it is a fishing port; and NATO has a naval base here. It is also one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia, and in 2025 it received the blue and green flags from FEE for the twelfth consecutive year.

Its military past is long. The city has played a conspicuous part in military history, and its walls date to Roman times, extended and strengthened in the fifteenth century, especially through the history of the Kingdom of Naples.

And its name is genuinely unresolved. Four separate ancient explanations compete — from a Laconian word for hollow things to the nurse of Aeneas — and the page's history section sets them out rather than choosing.

Where is Gaeta? On a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, 133 kilometres south of Rome and 96.5 kilometres north of Naples.

Is it a resort or a port? Both, and more: it is a seaside resort, a fishing port, and NATO has a naval base here. It is also one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.

Are the beaches good? Gaeta received the blue and green flags from FEE in 2025, for the twelfth consecutive year.

Where does the name come from? Four ancient answers compete. Strabo derives the gulf's name from a Laconian word for hollow things; Diodorus Siculus from Aietes, father of Medea; Virgil from Caieta, Aeneas's nurse, buried here — and Dante confirmed the event; and others from Eete, son of Helios, nicknamed "The Eagle", because the city's shape recalls that bird's head.

How old is the settlement? The first substantial settlements go back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries BC, and ancient Caieta was inhabited by the Oscan-speaking Aurunci by the tenth or ninth century BC.

When did Rome take it? The territory came under Rome's influence only in 345 BC.

Who had villas here? Caieta was one of the earliest locations of villae maritimae — owners included Scipio Africanus and Gaius Laelius — and later Lucius Marcius Philippus, Augustus's stepfather, and Lucius Munatius Plancus, consul in 42 BC. Domitian also had a villa in the area.

What is the mausoleum on Monte Orlando? That of Lucius Munatius Plancus, built at the end of the first century BC and still an impressive monument inside a large clearing within his villa.

How old are the walls? They date to Roman times and were extended and strengthened in the fifteenth century, especially through the history of the Kingdom of Naples.

When is the hot season? Precisely: 17 June to 13 September, with maxima above 27 °C. Best bathing is from the end of June to the beginning of September.

What happened in 840? For fear of the Saracens, the inhabitants of neighbouring Formiae fled to Gaeta.