La costa di Gaeta

There are places that stay with us from childhood and that, however much time passes, still take us by surprise. Places that seem to have said everything, and yet keep stories, landscapes and wonders that can still move us.

From that belief comes La costa di Gaeta, the new book by Gennaro Romanelli: the fruit of years of study, exploration and fieldwork along the Riviera di Ponente.

Page after page the reader is taken on a journey from Punta Stendardo to Punta dello Scarpone, following the shoreline past sea caves, cliffs, hidden coves, fortifications, Roman villas, monasteries, archaeological remains and landscapes that hold thousands of years of history.

The book was born on the water. For years the author travelled this stretch of coast both on foot and by canoe, seeing it from angles few people ever do, recording little-known places and gathering accounts that now find their place in a volume dedicated to one of the most precious natural and cultural treasures of the Tyrrhenian.

La costa di Gaeta is not meant to be a guidebook, but an invitation to stop, look and learn. Only through knowledge does respect for a place take root, and with it the will to keep it safe for those who follow.