Sperlonga is a seaside village halfway between Naples and Rome, perched on top of a rocky outcrop, with white lime plaster, with arches, ladders and alleys that open and hide, climb and descend until they slide to the sea. Its urban structure is typically medieval: starting from a first central nucleus, the houses are wrapped around the promontory becoming one with the rock, and embraced each other in defensive function. The village was built on the spur of San Magno, in a Mediterranean architecture, with narrow alleys and long staircases to make the raids of the marauders of the sea more uncomfortable. In the eleventh century Sperlonga was a castle closed by walls, in which there were two doors that today are the surviving testimonies of the Middle Ages: the Portella (or Porta Carrese) and Porta Marina, the main access road to the town, both with the coat of arms of the eagle of the Caetani family. Of the watchtowers that were intended to signal the arrival of Saracen pirates, three remain: Truglia tower, built on a rock at the extreme tip of the promontory of Sperlonga in 1532, on the foundations of a similar Roman building, rebuilt in 1611, again destroyed in 1623 and flourished again in the following century; Capovento tower, contemporary with the previous one, on a spur of Mount Bazzano; Torre del Nibbio, which was included in the baronial castle and dates back to 1500. After the devastation of 1534 it took almost a century for people to return to populate Sperlonga, which was rebuilt in the current tortoise shape and enriched with churches and noble palaces. Among the architectural wonders, it is necessary to remember the ancient church of Santa Maria di Spelonca, built in the early twelfth century with bell tower and Latin plan with women's galleries, the church of San Rocco, of the fifteenth century, Palazzo Sabella, the oldest and most important of the village, temporary residence in 1379 of the antipope Clement VII, with a façade rebuilt in the '500. The cave of Tiberius, finally, is a cave obtained in a Roman villa that is said to have belonged to the emperor. The residence developed for over 300 m in length along the eastern beach and included a thermal plant and a circular swimming pool connected to tanks intended for fish farming. Internally the cave was decorated with marble and mosaics in glass tesserae and furnished with the marble groups of Ulysses' exploits preserved in the Archaeological Museum.
