SAN FELICE CIRCEO
San Felice Circeo has a neatly marked territory: a part of it is a lowland below the promontory consisting of sandy stretches reclaimed during the Fascist regime times, and a higher part consisting of the Circeo Promontory. Looking at it from Anzio, it appears as the profile of a lying lady’s face, identified as the Sourceress Circe.
On the Promontory we find the medieval village with small shops, restaurants and stunning views. Large squares are made more precious by the presence of churches facades like the ones of San Felice Martyr, Santa Maria degli Angeli and Immacolata Church.
There is also a public garden which is among the most beautiful ones along the Ulysses Riviera: Vigna la Corte. This garden is an ancient vine surrounded by mediterranean trees, rosemary bushes and orange trees, looking onto the Gaeta Gulf and the Pontine Islands. After many years of neglet and abandonment thanks to a reclamation and safeguard project, the entire area has been transformed into what visitors can admire today. All of those who visit this beautiful garden are enchanted by its stunning views and if you visit it during summertime you’ll find that events are organised on a daily basis.
There are various markings that lead to think of the fact that the promontory was once an island. Here lived the Sourceress Circe who was able to tie to her all men, making them forget their duties, homeland and families. Omero in the “Odissey” narrates that Ulysses’ men had been turned into pigs by the sourceress and Ulysses himself could not get free from Circe’s spell before a year had gone by. Her name was given to the promontory and with time the name was associated with a woman’s figure.
A stroll in the outskirts of San Felice is a must to admire the lighthouse of Capo Circeo. It was built in 1866, during the reign of Pope Pius IX based on a project of the Pope himself. The lighthouse is situated on the side called Quarto Caldo and until not long ago it hosted the guarding staff of the lighhthouse itself. A visit to the lighthouse will pay back all of those who are prepared to “suffer” a little to reach it.