A town of central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea south-southeast of Rome. In World War II Allied troops landed at Anzio on January 22, 1944. Population: 48,500.
Anzio
Dictionary:
An·zi·o (ăn'zē-ō, än'tsyō)  |
A town of central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea south-southeast of Rome. In World War II Allied troops landed at Anzio on January 22, 1944. Population: 48,500.
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Anzio |
For more information on Anzio, visit Britannica.com.
| US History Encyclopedia: Anzio |
Anzio, a town on the west coast of Italy, thirty-three miles south of Rome, became a battleground in the spring of 1944 during the Italian campaign of World War II. The Germans under Field Marshal Albert Kesselring stubbornly defended southern Italy between Naples and Rome in the fall of 1943. General Mark Clark of the Fifth U.S. Army and General Sir Harold Alexander of the British army planned an Anglo-American amphibious invasion at Anzio to loosen the German grip on the mountainous terrain around Cassino, precipitate a battle for Rome, and compel the Germans to retreat to positions north of Rome.
The operation was risky because the Anzio forces would be isolated in German-held territory. Under pressure from Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who wished to capture Rome before the cross-Channel invasion into Normandy, the Sixth Corps under General John Lucas landed British and American troops at Anzio and neighboring Nettuno against virtually no opposition on 22 January 1944.
The Germans rallied quickly, penned the invaders into a small beachhead, and almost drove the Anglo-American force into the sea. The Allies held their precarious positions for four months, amassing forces for a spring offensive. On 11 May 1944 Alexander broke the Gustav Line, and Clark's units linked up with the beachead fourteen days later. The Sixth Corps, now under General Lucian Truscott Jr., joined the main forces, and Allied troops entered Rome on 4 June, two days before the cross-Channel attack.
Bibliography
Blumenson, Martin. Anzio: The Gamble That Failed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1963.
D'Este, Carlo. Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
Vaughan-Thomas, Wynford. Anzio. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961.
—Martin Blumenson/A. R.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Anzio |
Anzio (än'tsyō), Lat. Antium, town (1991 pop. 33,497), in Latium, central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is a seaside resort with a fishing industry. A Volscian town, it was captured by Rome in 341 B.C. and became a favorite resort of the Romans. Nero and Caligula were born there; among the ruins of Nero's villa two famous statues, the Apollo Belvedere and the Girl of Anzio, were found. Anzio declined in the Middle Ages, but it revived c.1700 and became a residence of the popes. During World War II, Allied troops landed (Jan., 1944) at Anzio and nearby Nettuno to draw German forces from Cassino, thus effecting a breakthrough (May, 1944) to Rome.
| Wikipedia: Anzio |
This article is about the city. For other uses, see Anzio (disambiguation).
| Anzio | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — Comune — | |||
| Comune di Anzio | |||
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  Anzio
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| Coordinates: 41°26′52.61″N 12°37′44.59″E / 41.4479472°N 12.6290528°ECoordinates: 41°26′52.61″N 12°37′44.59″E / 41.4479472°N 12.6290528°E | |||
| Country | Italy | ||
| Region | Lazio | ||
| Province | Rome | ||
| Frazioni | Anzio Colonia, Cincinnato, Falasche, Lavinio Mare, Lavinio Stazione, Lido dei Gigli, Lido dei Pini, Lido delle Sirene, Marechiaro, Villa Claudia | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Luciano Bruschini (since April 2008) | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 43.43 km2 (16.8 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 3 m (10 ft) | ||
| Population (2008) | |||
| - Total | 52,192 | ||
| - Density | 1,201.7/km2 (3,112.5/sq mi) | ||
| - Demonym | Anziati | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 00042 | ||
| Dialing code | 06 | ||
| Patron saint | St. Anthony | ||
| Website | Official website | ||
Anzio is a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about 57 km (35 mi) south of Rome.
Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene. The city bears great historical significance as the site of a crucial Allied landing during World War II.
Contents |
History
Ancient era
Called Antium in ancient times, it was the capital of the Volsci people until it was conquered by the Romans.
With the latter expansion of Rome it was just far enough away to be insulated from the riots and tumults of Rome. When Cicero returned from exile, it was at Antium that he reassembled the battered remains of his libraries, where the scrolls would be secure. Leading Romans built magnificent seaside villas at Antium. The Julian and Claudian emperors frequently visited it: Gaius Maecenas had a villa at Antium; both Emperor Caligula and Nero were born in Antium; the latter founded a colony of veterans and built a new harbour, the projecting moles of which are still existing.
Remains of Roman villas are conspicuous all along the shore, both to the east and to the north-west of the town. Many works of art have been found: the Fanciulla d'Anzio, the Borghese Gladiator (Louvre Museum) and the Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican were all discovered in the ruins of villas at Antium.
Of the villas, the most famous was the Villa of Nero at Antium which cannot be certainly identified, but is generally placed at the so-called Arco Muto, where remains of a theatre (discovered in 1712 and covered up again) also exist. It extended along the coast of the Capo d'Anzio some 800 meters of seafront. Nero razed the former villa on the site, where Augustus had received a delegation from Rome to acclaim him Pater patriae ("Father of his Country") to rebuild on its foundations a villa on a more imperial scale, which was used by each Emperor in turn, up to the Severans. Of the famous temple of Fortune (Horace, Od. i. 35) no remains are known.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages Antium was deserted in favour of Nettuno: at the end of the 17th century Innocent XII and Clement XI restored the harbour, not on the old site but to the east of it, with the opening to the east, a mistake which leads to its being frequently silted up; it has a depth of about 5 m. The sea is encroaching slightly at Anzio, but some kilomters farther north-west the old Roman coast-line now lies slightly inland (see Tiber). The Volscian city stood on higher ground and somewhat away from the shore, though it extended down to it. It was defended by a deep ditch, which can still be traced, and by walls, a portion of which, on the eastern side, constructed of rectangular blocks of tufa, was brought to light in 1897.
World War II
Main article: Operation Shingle
Anzio and Nettuno are also notable as sites of an Allied forces landing (Operation Shingle) and ensuing battle (known as the Battle of Anzio) during World War II. The Commonwealth Anzio War Cemetery and Beach Head War Cemetery are located here.
American forces (5th Army) were surrounded by Germans in the caves of Pozzoli in February 1944 for a week, suffering heavy casualties. A movie based on the events called Anzio (1968, directed by Edward Dmytryk) was made, starring Robert Mitchum and based on a book by Wynford Vaughan-Thomas.
On 18 February 1944, the light cruiser HMS Penelope was struck by two torpedoes off the coast of Anzio and sunk with a loss of 417 crew.
Main sights
Along the coast are numerous remains of Roman villas. One, the Domus Neroniana, has been identified as a residence of Nero.
In Anzio can be found the Anzio Beachhead British Military Cemetery and a Beachhead Museum. The American Military Cemetery is in Nettuno. About 8 km north of the town there is a WWF park with sulphur springs and a medieval tower, Tor Caldara.
All along the coast a large number of beaches and sea resorts can be found, including hotels and the famous fish restaurants of the port of Anzio. The city once hosted a Casino that is no longer active and now hosts cultural events. In the southern part of the town, close to the border with Nettuno, are many Italian art nouveau style houses.
Transportation
Anzio is connected to Rome by the Via Nettunense (SS207), the Via Ardeatina (SS601) and by the Roma-Nettuno railroad that stops in the stations of Lavinio, Villa Claudia, Marechiaro, Anzio Colonia and Anzio.
References
- Antonio Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, i. 181; Notizie degli scavi, passim.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anzio |
- Official website (Italian)
- Illustrated reconstruction of Nero's Villa (Italian)
- Memorials and cemetery from the World War Two battles at Anzio at the Sites of Memory webpage
- Illustrated article on the Battle of Anzio at Battlefields Europe
- Anzio in the history
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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