Fondi (Latin: Fundi; Southern Laziale: Fùnn) is a city and comune in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples.
[3] Before the construction of the highway between the latter cities in the late 1950s, Fondi had been an important settlement on the Roman Via Appia, which was the main connection from Rome to much of southern Italy.
The 15-kilometre (9 mi) long sandy beach stretches from Sperlonga in the south-east to Terracina in the north-west and lies along the Gulf of Gaeta, with views (when the weather is clear) to the Pontine Islands.
The first historical reference to Fondi dates to 338 BC, at the time of the Latin War, when its inhabitants (together with those of the nearby Formia) gained minor Roman citizenship status (civitas sine suffragio).
Later a part of the Papal States, in 846 it was burnt out by the Saracens coming from their fortress of Garigliano: they settled there until they were defeated in the Battle of Circeus of 877, and Fondi was passed to the Duchy of Gaeta.
In 1818 the declining city, surrounded by malaria-infested marshes malaria and brigandage, lost the bishopric seat existing there since the very early years of Christianity.