COMUNE DI SONNINO
This stands on a hill 430 m. high. The surrounding hills, with Monte delle Fate and the Camposoriano Valley, connect the territory of Sonnino with those of Terracina and Monte San Biagio. As all over the Monti Ausoni, the landscape alternates barren slopes, Mediterranean maquis and olive groves with woods of ilex, oak and juniper trees. The town is of Roma origin and divided into four districts. Today’s old centre, of mediaeval origin, has winding streets, flights of steps, towers and gates, with steps leading to stone building with archivolts, small doorways and pillars. Also dating from the same period are the defence walls, a cylindrical tower (Torre Antonelli), the churches of St.Michele Arcangelo (made a Sanctuary in 1947), St.Giovanni Battista and St.Pietro and, in the countryside, the monastery of St. Maria delle Canne. Giacomo Antonelli, Pope Pius IX’s Secretary of State, and the bandit Gasbarrone, who spread terror on the Sonnino moun-tains between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, were born here. The “Sagra delle Torce”, a nocturnal reconnaissance of the municipal boundaries, conducted in a proces-sion on the eve of Ascension Day, is of particular importance.
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