Fondi

▪ Italy

Latin  Fundi,  

      town, Lazio (Latium) regione, south-central Italy. It lies along the Appian Way at the foot of the Aurunci Mountains, northeast of Fondi Lake and 56 miles (90 km) southeast of Rome. Originally a town of the ancient Volsci people, it received Roman citizenship in 188 BC. The town became papal property in the 5th century, although this control remained largely nominal until the 17th century. Fondi was disputed between the papacy and the Kingdom of Naples in the later Middle Ages. In 1378 it was the scene of the conclave that elected Antipope Clement VII, giving rise to the Great Schism (Western Schism) of the Western church (1378–1417).

      Many of Fondi's notable buildings were damaged during World War II, including the Castello (13th–15th century), the Palazzo del Principe (1466–77), the medieval Church of San Pietro, and the late Gothic Church of San Domenico (containing a cell used by St. Thomas Aquinas). Roman antiquities in the town include the remains of a temple beneath San Pietro's and the town's ancient cyclopean walls, which are partly of polygonal masonry (late 3rd or early 2nd century BC) and partly of rubble masonry (1st century BC).

      Fondi is an agricultural centre noted for citrus fruits, being the northernmost point in Italy where they are regularly cultivated. Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 35,322.

* * *