FONDI, DIOCESE of. — The d. of F. was in the present province of Latina and also included the territories of Campodimele, Lenola, Sperlonga, and Monticelli.
An extremely ancient city of the Aurunci, which became a Roman municipium in 188 B.C., F. was of importance in the Middle Ages and already in the 5th century formed part of the territory of the Church. Destroyed by the Saracens (344), in 1266 it was conquered by Manfred. In the 14th century it had passed to the Caetani, and became the center of their power. Indeed, with the support of Onorato I Caetani, on 20 September 1378 the French cardinals were able to bring the antipope Clement VI to F. Without excluding the possibility that a Christian community existed at F. in the 3rd century, given the limited reliability of those codices of the Liber Pontificalis which have Pope Anterus (235–36) consecrate a bishop of Fondi, and the lack of certainty that the martyr Magnus was a local bishop, the first certain prelate is Vitale, who took part in the Synods from 487 to 502. Among the bishops in the episcopal succession, mention should be made of a. Andrea, of whom a. Gregorio I speaks (Dial., 3, 7), and Gennaro Vincenzo Tortora, with whom the succession ended, since Pius VII, on 27 June 1818, united the diocese of F. with the neighboring diocese of Gaeta.
F. still preserves its 1st-century B.C. walls, with one polygonal section; the ancient Appian Way, crossing it from east to west, constitutes its decumanus. Worthy of note are the former cathedral of S. Pietro, with an ambo and cathedra in Campanian style from the 12th and 13th centuries; the bell tower of S. Maria, the interior of S. Francesco, and the cloister of S. Domenico, from the 14th century; the collegiate church of S. Maria; the portal of S. Francesco; and the fortress and feudal palace from the 15th century. — Vedi tav. XCIV.
(far. Dis. fot. sic.)
FONDI, DIOCESE of — Pulpit of the church of S. Pietro, by Giovanni di Nicola (11th century).
Val di Pesa 1917; P. Kehr, Ital. Pontif., VIII, Berlino 1923, pp. 93–97; Lanzoni, I, pp. 159–63; M. Ingualice, L. Mattei, Censoli, P. Sella, Rationes decimarum Italiae nel sec. XIII-XIV. Campania, Città del Vaticano 1942, pp. 1–5. Alberto Galetti