Formiae, today Formia in the province of Latina, Lazio, lies on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy along the Appian Way, roughly midway between Rome and Naples. First recorded in 338 BCE, it became a resort where wealthy Romans built seaside villas; Cicero owned one and was killed on the Appian Way near the town in 43 BCE, and a tower tomb there is traditionally identified as his. In Christian tradition Saint Erasmus, later venerated as Saint Elmo, patron of sailors, was martyred near Formiae around 303. After the fall of Rome its people moved to hilltop settlements under Gaeta, which were reunited as Formia in 1863.
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Formiae through the eras
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Roman Era
Under the late Roman Republic, Formiae was a fashionable resort along the Appian Way where Rome's elite built luxurious villas. Cicero owned one of his favorite retreats here and wrote from it amid his philosophical and political labors. It was at this Formian villa that he was overtaken and killed in December 43 BCE by soldiers of the Second Triumvirate—his proscription engineered by Mark Antony in revenge for the Philippic orations—a death that came to symbolize the fall of Republican liberty.