| Sessa Aurunca | |
| Official Name: | Comune di Sessa Aurunca |
| Coordinates: | 41.2333°N 69°W |
| Region: | Campania |
| Province: | Caserta (CE) |
| Frazioni: | Aulpi, Avezzano, Baia Domizia, Carano, Cascano, Cescheto, Corbara, Corigliano, Cupa, Fasani, Fontanaradina, Gusti, Lauro, Li Paoli, Maiano, Marzuli, Piedimonte, Ponte, Rongolise, San Carlo, San Castrese, San Martino, Santa Maria a Valogno, Sorbello, Tuoro, Valogno |
| Mayor: | Lorenzo Di Iorio |
| Area Total Km2: | 162.18 |
| Population Total: | 20206 |
| Population As Of: | 31 March 2022 |
| Population Demonym: | Sessani |
| Elevation M: | 203 |
| Saint: | St. Leo IX |
| Day: | May 8 |
| Postal Code: | 81037 |
| Area Code: | 0823 |
Sessa Aurunca is a town and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy. It is located on the south west slope of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina, 40km (30miles) by rail west north west of Caserta and 30km (20miles) east of Formia.
It is situated on the site of ancient Suessa Aurunca, near the river Garigliano. The hill on which Sessa lies is a mass of volcanic tuff.
The name Sessa comes from Colonia Julia Felix Classica Suessa, a city belonging to the ancient Auruncan Pentapolis, which is the historic core of the downtown. It is assumed that the name can be derived from the happy location ("sessio", that is, seat, gentle hill from the mild climate of the local territory).
The ancient chief town of the Aurunci, Suessa is sometimes identified with a site at over above the level of the sea, on the narrow south-western edge of the extinct crater of Roccamonfina. Here some remains of Cyclopean masonry exist; but the area enclosed, about 100mby50mm (300feetby160feetm), is too small for anything but a detached fort. This site dates more probably from a time before the wars between the Aurunci and the Romans.
In 337 BC the town was abandoned under the pressure of the Sidicini, in favour of the site of the modern Sessa. The new town kept the old name until 313, when a Latin colony under the name Suessa Aurunca was founded here. It was among the towns that had the right of coinage, and it manufactured carts, baskets and others. Cicero speaks of it as a place of some importance. The triumviri settled some of their veterans here, whence it appears as Colonia Julia Felix Classica Suessa. From inscriptions it appears that Matidia the younger, sister-in-law of Hadrian, had property in the district. It was not on a highroad, but on a branch between the Via Appia at Minturnae and the Via Latina crater mentioned.
Suessa saw its maximum urban expansion in the early Roman imperial age: the town extended over an area almost twice the current and counted several large buildings.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Sessa lost much of its population, and was located on the boundaries between the Duchy of Benevento (later Principality of Capua) and the Duchy of Gaeta. Starting from the 14th century it became a fiefdom (as a semi-independent duchy) of the Marzano family, part of the Kingdom of Naples. In 1466 it returned under direct control of the Neapolitan crown.
thumb|220px|Ducal Castle.
In some streets are memorial stones with inscriptions in honour of Charles V, surmounted by an old crucifix with a mosaic cross.
Events in the town include:
Baia Domizia is a small resort town included in the comune of Sessa Aurunca. The village was built since 1964 and is located near the river Garigliano, inside an Italian pine forest and nice volcanic sand beaches. It is a holiday town with 7miles of private beaches. The village offers a superb combination of sea, sand and sightseeing. Baia Domizia gained the status as a main destination of summer tourism on the Litorale Domizio and is one of the best known seaside resorts in Campania Region. The Real Ferdinando Bridge is a suspension bridge over the River Garigliano. It was the first iron catenary suspension bridge built in Italy, and one of the earliest in continental Europe. This bridge, which was technologically advanced for its age, was built in 1832 by the Bourbon Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The engineer who designed the bridge was Luigi Giura.
Sessa Aurunca is connected by railway to Naples and Rome.