Pontinia, Italian comune
Pontinia is a commune in Lazio on a flat plain south of Rome. Built in 1935 as a planned town, it features an orderly street layout centered around a main square lined with the Town Hall, Casa della Cultura, church, and other civic buildings from that era.
The town was founded in 1935 as part of a major project to transform the Pontine Marshes into farmland. Engineer Alfredo Pappalardo designed the plans for this planned settlement, which emerged from drained wetland areas.
The name Pontinia comes directly from the Pontine Marshes, the wetlands that once covered the area. Today you can see local traditions and community gatherings that keep the town's history of land reclamation alive in people's daily lives.
The town has wide, open streets and a clear layout that makes it easy to explore on foot. The flat terrain and low elevation just a few meters above sea level make walking through the area straightforward and accessible for most visitors.
The town houses a Museum of Malaria and its history inside the Casa della Cultura, a reminder of the health problems that plagued the swampy areas before. This museum reveals how closely Pontinia's creation was tied to fighting a disease that once afflicted the region.
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