ISTORY   / have also taken an apartment in the immense Villa Borghese in Nettuno. And will experience peace. Gabriele D'Annunzio, Letters to the Treves

According to a well established and colorful tradition, the originai settlement of Nettuno was the mythical Neptunia, the very ancient city dedicated to the god of the sea. The presumed remains of this city may still be glimpsed at low tide in the waters in front of the Sangallo Fortress. Whatever the case may be, it is certain that the territory was inhabited since the Paleolithic period and it is quite possible that the Roman Antium, at least during the imperiai era, extended to this part of Cape Antium.

In about the ninth century, when the port of Anzio was definitively abandoned due to the increasing threat of Saracen raids, the population thronged to the promontory and a medieval settlement came into existence there. In the eleventh century it became the property of the monks of the Grottaferrata abbey who, in 1140, gave it in emphyteusis to the counts of Tuscolo. In the second half of the eleventh century the Roman Senate took Nettuno and in 1220 it ceded the city to the Orsini family who kept it for two consecutive centuries. Then in 1426, Pope Martin V forced the Orsinis to accept an exchange of property and he assigned the fìef to his nephew, cardinal Antonio Colonna.

During the papacy of Alexander VI (1492-1503), Nettuno was seized and assigned to the Pope's son, the famous Cesare Borgia, or "Valentino". And Cesare Borgia commissioned the construction of the Fortress. Upon the death of Alexander VI, Nettuno returned to the Colonna family until 1594 when it was acquired by Pope Clement VIII Aldobrandini who entrusted it to the Apostolic Camera. In 1831 it was sold to the Borghese family.

Over the centuries the town had always remained a small hamlet which, despite its location, lived essentially from agriculture. After 1870 when a railway connected Nettuno to the capital, the city developed rapidly and became a thriving seaside resort. During the years 1939 to 1945 Anzio and Nettuno were united into one municipality under the name Nettunia. World War II brought tragic upheavals to these towns which suffered severe damage as the theatre of the Allied debarkation (on 22 January 1944) and the fierce German counter-offensive. In the aftermath of these events a special bond, however, has always been felt between Nettuno and the United States of America. Together they built the monumental cemetery for all Americans who died in the military campaign which, beginning with the debarkation in Sicily , eventually led to the liberation of Rome . A sign of this bond is also the great passion the people of Nettuno bave for baseball, a sport in which they excel, having won many national and European trophies to show for it. Over the last few decades Nettuno has undergone great change, for it has become not only a beach resort but also a residential center for the metropolitan area of Rome. The service industry has greatly developed, encouraged by investments fostering tourism, and an outstanding example of this is the well equipped marina which can accommodate eight hundred boats.