Ponza is a ''
comune'' (municipality) of the
Province of Latina in the
Italian region Lazio. It comprises the four islands of the western part of the
Pontine archipelago in the
Gulf of Gaeta
The Gulf of Gaeta is a body of water on the west coast of Italy and part of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is bounded by Cape Circeo in the north, Ischia and the Gulf of Naples in the south, and the Pontine Islands in the west.
The gulf is named for th ...
(central
Tyrrhenian Sea):
Ponza itself,
Palmarola
Palmarola is a craggy, mostly uninhabited island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy. It is the second-largest of the Pontine Islands and located about west from Ponza. In antiquity it was known as Palmaria.
Palmarola has an extr ...
,
Zannone
Zannone is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy, and is part of the Pontine Islands, administratively in the ''comune'' of Ponza. The entire island is about in size and about from Ponza Island.[Gavi
GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...]
. The economy of Ponza is essentially based on fishing and summer tourism.
The islands
The main centre of the island is the port of Ponza, which stands towards the southern end of the eastern coast and is the seat of the commune. Other settlements include Guarini, Giancos, I Conti and Santa Maria in the centre of the island and Campo Inglese and Le Forna in the north.
The second largest of the islands is Palmarola which lies some to the west of Ponza. It is inhabited only in the summer months and is the site of a
nature reserve. The church of San Silverio recalls
Pope Silverius’ death while in exile on the island.
The island of Zannone is some to the north-east of Ponza and is completely uninhabited: even overnight stays are prohibited. This forms part of the
Circeo National Park
Circeo National Park (Italian: ''Parco Nazionale del Circeo'') is an Italian national park founded in 1934. It occupies a strip of coastal land from Anzio to Terracina, including also a sector of forest in the mainland of San Felice Circeo, and t ...
.
The tiny island of Gavi lies only off the northeastern tip of Ponza.
Twin towns
*
Aglientu
Aglientu ( sdn, Santu Francìscu di l'Aglièntu) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about northwest of Olbia.
Aglientu borders the following municipaliti ...
, Italy
*
Ischia, Italy, since 2013
References
External links
Official website
Cities and towns in Lazio
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