Latina, formerly Littoria

Latina is a provincial capital in the Lazio region. Born as Littoria, it was founded by Mussolini in 1932, making it one of the youngest cities in Italy. It required a massive reclamation work, which lasted 11 years and involved about 50,000 workers, of the marshes of the Agro Pontina plain. The reclamation was already in the mind of the Roman Empire, but only in the Fascist period was it made possible. It was born as an ideal city, with an octagonal plan, totally flat and an excellent service center and railway yard. The pulsating center of the city is Piazza del Popolo, designed by Oriolo Frezzotti, where the water monument, a remarkable travertine sphere and the civic tower of the town hall stand. Latina is full of architraved arcades, typical of the austere Fascist architecture, recalling Roman art. Another central square is the one dedicated to San Marco, where the Cambellotti museum is located, an exponent of Art Nouveau, which attributed pedagogical, social and moralistic functions to art. Opposite is the church of San Marco from 1933, the work of Frezzotti, inside which there is an educational-religious center dedicated to Don Bosco, educator canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI.