| Province of Latina | |
| Native Name Lang: | it |
| Settlement Type: | Province |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  Italy |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Lazio |
| Seat Type: | Capital(s) |
| Seat: | Latina |
| Parts Type: | Comuni |
| Parts Style: | para |
| P1: | 33 |
| Leader Party: | IV |
| Leader Title: | President |
| Leader Name: | Gerardo Stefanelli |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 2251 |
| Population Total: | 561189 |
| Population As Of: | 2012 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type2: | GDP |
| Demographics2 Footnotes: | [1] |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Total |
| Demographics2 Info1: | €12.524 billion (2015) |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Per capita |
| Demographics2 Info2: | €21,844 (2015) |
| Timezone1: | CET |
| Utc Offset1: | +1 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 04100 |
| Area Code Type: | Telephone prefix |
| Area Code: | 0773, 06, 0771 |
| Registration Plate: | LT |
| Blank Name Sec1: | ISTAT |
| Blank Info Sec1: | 059 |
The province of Latina (Italian: provincia di Latina) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city of Latina. It is bordered by the provinces of Frosinone to the northeast and by the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital to the northwest.
It has an area of 2251km2 and a population of 561,189 (2012). The province contains comuni (: comune).[2]
See main article: Comuni of the Province of Latina.
The most populous comuni are:
| Comune | Population |
|---|---|
| Latina | 128,810 |
| Aprilia | 74,691 |
| Terracina | 46,245 |
| Fondi | 39,773 |
| Formia | 38,264 |
| Cisterna di Latina | 36,742 |
| Sezze | 24,866 |
| Gaeta | 20,936 |
| Sabaudia | 20,305 |
| Minturno | 19,816 |
| Pontinia | 14,883 |
| Priverno | 14,452 |
| Cori | 11,108 |
| Itri | 10,724 |
| Sermoneta | 10,155 |
| San Felice Circeo | 10,018 |
| Sonnino | 7,548 |
| Santi Cosma e Damiano | 6,889 |
| Monte San Biagio | 6,322 |
The province of Latina was founded on 18 December 1934, encompassing mainly the drained areas of the Agro Pontino previously part of the province of Rome. Apart from the Pontine lands, it includes the Aurunci, Lepini and Ausoni mountain ranges, as well as the Pontine islands archipelago. The port of Gaeta and Formia, in the southernmost part of the province, belonged traditionally and linguistically to Campania.
In Bronze Age, complex permanent settlement systems and functionally differentiated societies developed in the Pontine region. This included preparation of fish and salt at the coast and metallurgy slightly inland.[3] Late Iron Age fortified settlements evolved on the Alban hills and Monti Lepini. Small-scale farming and urbanisation developed only in or right before the Roman Age with transhumant pastoralism still continuing. From 350 BC onwards, the colonies of Cora (Cori), Norba and Setia (Sezze) were built. The small peasant economy was gradually replaced by large specialised latifundia.
Although the smallest of the provinces in the Lazio region, the province of Latina includes a variety of geographical and historical areas.
The mainland area is, in the south- and north-eastern part, mostly occupied by limestone hills and mountains. Ranges include the Lepini, Aurunci, Ausoni. The highest elevation is that of 1533m (5,030feet) Monte Petrella (Aurunci). The climate is semi-continental with hot summers and cold winters; temperatures rarely fall below 0C. The mountains are characterized by small medieval settlements (borghi) and traditionally live of cattle raising and agriculture; however, these activities saw a marked decline in recent times, and today workers usually commute daily to work in Rome or Latina.Tourism is an increasing interesting resource, attracted especially by the uncontaminated nature and by artistic traces of the Middle Ages (Abbeys of Valvisciolo and Fossanova, where St. Thomas Aquinas died). The main centres of this area are Cori, Sezze, and Priverno.
The Agro Pontino occupies the plain extending southwards from Aprilia to Terracina, along the Tyrrhenian Sea. Until the 1930s, it was covered by unhealthy marshes, which were dried up under Fascist government; the area as subsequently settled by immigrants coming from north-eastern Italy, in newly built cities like Sabaudia or Latina itself. The sole mountain peak is that of Circeo promontory. The climate is mild. The Agro Pontino is the most economically developed part of the province, housing a flourishing agricultural sector and numerous service firms and industries. It also houses much of the water basins of the province, like the coast Lakes of Fogliano, Caprolace, and Paola.
Apart the capital, the main cities include Cisterna di Latina, Terracina, Sabaudia.
Cities rich of ancient and medieval history, Gaeta and Formia were traditionally part of the Kingdom of Naples. They belonged to the Campania region until 1934. Traces of the different cultural milieu can be identified in the costumes and, most of all, in the local dialect, a variant of Neapolitan. Formia and Gaeta constitutes a single metropolitan area with an important port (with connection to the Pontine Islands), a station on the main railway line Rome-Naples. Other important centres include Sperlonga and Minturno.
See main article: Pontine Islands. Once mainly used as penitentiaries, the Pontine Islands are now a renowned tourist resort in summer. The only inhabited islands are Ponza and Ventotene.