Ponte Real Ferdinando sul Garigliano
Sessa Aurunca (CE)
KnownIn the water & diving
The story
On 10 May 1832 the king climbed to the middle of the span and ordered two squadrons of lancers to trot across it, followed by sixteen artillery trains: Italy's first iron-chain suspension bridge had to prove it was not afraid. It is still there, with its cast-iron sphinxes.
Access
Pedestrian access; hours of the Minturnae archaeological area
More gems in Sessa Aurunca
History & archaeologySessa Aurunca (Ponte Ronaco, teatro, Settimana Santa)
Sessa Aurunca
The second Roman theatre of Campania, the Romanesque cathedral built from the stones of ancient temples, and the hooded rites of Settimana Santa (Holy Week): a city that lives on memory.
- Street art
Borgo dipinto di Valogno
Sessa Aurunca (CE)
A tiny hamlet of Sessa Aurunca amid the woods of Roccamonfina, Valogno answered depopulation with colour, painting the walls, vaults and balconies of its houses with dozens of works.
CastlesCastello di Sessa Aurunca (Ducale)
Sessa Aurunca (CE)
The ducal castle of Sessa Aurunca, born in the Lombard age on the ancient acropolis, today safeguards the mosaics and marbles that resurfaced from the city's Roman theatre.
- Street art
Borgo dei Murales di Valogno
Sessa Aurunca (CE)
A handful of houses that the murals have turned into a tale: verses, fables and painted figures on the walls of an almost forgotten borgo (old village) at the foot of Sessa.
- History & archaeology
Ponte Ronaco (Ponte Auruncus)
Sessa Aurunca (CE)
Twenty-one Roman arches striding across an entire valley, 176 metres of viaduct built under Trajan. On the basalt paving you still walk on stones trodden two thousand years ago, among brambles and silence.
- History & archaeology
Ex centrale nucleare del Garigliano
Sessa Aurunca (CE)
The white sphere of the reactor appears out of nowhere among the fields of the Garigliano: one of Italy's first nuclear power stations, switched on in 1964, shut down in 1982, and today being dismantled piece by piece. A fossil of a future that never arrived.
More gems: In the water & diving
In the water & divingParco Sommerso di Baia
Bacoli
A Roman city swallowed by the sea through bradyseism: mosaics, columns and statues visited from a glass-bottomed boat or with a mask.
In the water & divingGrotta Azzurra
Anacapri
You enter lying flat in a small rowing boat through a low cleft, and inside the water lights up in a luminous blue that seems to rise from the depths.
- In the water & diving
Grotta Bianca
Capri
Pale limestone walls in a two-chambered cavity hollowed out by the sea, once a shelter for boats and a hiding place from pirate raids.
In the water & divingVerde
Capri
The water turns emerald green where light filters in through a submerged opening, and at the far end a small pebble beach lies hidden.
- In the water & diving
Meravigliosa
Capri
A stairway carved into the rock leads to a vault thick with stalactites and stalagmites, suspended above the Grotta Bianca and the island's thousand-year-old strata.
- In the water & diving
Punta Pizzaco e Solchiaro (snorkeling)
Procida
On the southern side, between the cliffs of Solchiaro and the walls of Pizzaco, clear water and rocky seabeds invite you to swim with a mask, far from the crowds.