Road station
Formis
Formia
Listen to the story
Formis is Formiae, now Formia, whose name the Greek geographer Strabo derives from its good anchorages, and where legend placed the Laestrygonians, the man-eating giants of the Odyssey. Many wealthy Romans had seaside villas here, among them Cicero, who was killed near his villa in 43 BC; a tall tomb beside the Via Appia is still called Cicero's tomb. Next to Formiae the map draws a nameless fortress by the sea, evidently Caieta, today's Gaeta.