What is Bassiano known for?

Aldine Press founder, born here between 1449 and 1452; invented italic type and the pocket-size octavo book. Late thirteenth-century fortification with nine intact towers and three gates, raised around the spiral village by the Caetani family. Highest village in the province of Latina at 562 meters, on the limestone ridge above the Pontine plain.

Bassiano is a comune in the province of Latina, Lazio region of Italy, about 21 kilometers from Latina.

Lazio · Latina

Bassiano

The highest village in the province of Latina at 562 meters, birthplace of Aldo Manuzio, who shrank the book to pocket size.

562m

Elevation

21 km / 13 mi

Nearest hub (Latina)

1,440

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Bassiano sits at 562 meters on a ridge of the Monti Lepini, the highest commune in the province of Latina. The medieval village is built in a spiral that climbs to the summit where the Caetani fortress once stood. Its walls, raised by the Caetani at the end of the thirteenth century, run with nine towers and three gates still intact. Aldo Manuzio was born here between 1449 and 1452. He moved to Venice, founded the Aldine Press, gave the world italic type and the enchiridia, the small portable book in octavo, predecessor of the modern paperback. The Palazzo Caetani in the centro storico now houses the Museo delle Scritture Aldo Manuzio, opened in 2009 with La Sapienza University, dedicated to the history of the written word. The Chiesa di Sant'Erasmo holds a Romanesque baptismal font and fourteenth-century frescoes. From the belvedere at the top of the spiral, the Pontine plain opens out toward the Tyrrhenian, and on a clear morning the Circeo promontory closes the horizon.

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Gallery

8 photos · scroll →

Known for

Mura e torri dei Caetani
Late thirteenth-century walls with nine towers and three gates, raised by the Caetani family around the spiral village.
Museo delle Scritture Aldo Manuzio
Inside the sixteenth-century Palazzo Caetani, opened 2009 with La Sapienza University, dedicated to the printer-humanist born here around 1450.
Chiesa di Sant'Erasmo
Fourteenth-century parish church with Romanesque baptismal font, marble tabernacle, and a cycle of frescoes from the late Middle Ages.
Centro storico a spirale
Spiral medieval town climbing to the summit, narrow alleys and case-torri, the highest centro storico in the province of Latina.
Monti Lepini
Limestone range rising 1,500 meters above the Pontine plain, trekking country between Bassiano, Sermoneta and Norma.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the months Bassiano is built for: 562 meters of elevation keeps the air cool when the Pontine plain below is at thirty-five, and the views from the belvedere reach to the sea. July and August are warm but never extreme; the centro storico holds shade in the afternoon. November through March is quiet, with mist on the Lepini ridge and few visitors in the spiral alleys. The patronal feast of Sant'Erasmo on 2 June draws the diaspora back from Latina and Rome.