Sermoneta (September 18)

As you can see, we did a lot on September 18 but it seemed to flow well.  It didn't hurt that we were being chauffeured around in a double-decker bus all day!  After Ninfa our next stop was Sermoneta, a small hill town not far from Ninfa.  Its two big tourist attractions are a 13th century cathedral, Santa Maria Assunta, and a huge castle (see left) built by the Caetani family (also referenced in the Ninfa blog entry).  Interesting facts of Sermoneta are 1) from the 13th-16th centuries it was also home to a flourishing Jewish community and 2) in 2007 the movie "Silk," starring Keira Knightly was filmed there (info courtesy of Wikipedia).

The weather made it easy to take picturesque photos of the countryside.  Sermoneta is located in the province of Latina, about an hour south of Rome and not far from the Mediterranean coast.







Sermoneta is literally cut right out of the side of a mountain, as evidenced by the steep drop to get to this residence.  On the right, I'm holding Celie, Brad's and Amy's (right behind me) youngest of two daughters.  Apparently she doesn't let too many people hold her, according to Amy.  Perhaps I just caught her on a good day!  Also behind me is Yvonne, Ancient Art History Extraordinaire and my Italian "buddy"!  She rocks!



A couple more snap shots of Sermonta before we left to return to Terracina and relax.