Aprilia, Lazio

Aprilia   is a city and comune (municipality) in the province of Latina, now incorporated in the conurbation of Rome, in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is the fifth town for population in the region and the tenth for its area.

Territory 

Aprilia is located at  above sea level, in the Agro Romano, and is  away from the Anzio and Nettuno sea side towns,  from Rome and  from Colli Albani.
Although Aprilia is effectively part of the province of Latina, because of its strategic position at the far north of the Pontinian province, Aprilia is commonly associated to Rome. It has been considered whether Aprilia should be included in the Rome metropolitan area.

History
In ancient times the territory of Aprilia was under the dominion of Ardea and Rome.

In modern age Aprilia was founded on April 25, 1936, during the Fascist government. The project of the land reclamation, wanted by Benito Mussolini, where the Duce proposed new areas for Italian citizens to live and work in not so far from the big cities. Aprilia was part of the project called 2PST by(Concezio Petrucci, Mario (Mosè) Tufaroli, Emanuele Filiberto Paolini e Riccardo Silenzi.) The area where the city has been built belonged to the Rome county, is the fourth in order of foundation after Littoria, Sabaudia e Pontinia.
The name of the city come from the Latin Venus Aprilia - "Fruitful Venus"

With a surface of 17,774 hectares and 71,150 inhabitants , the municipality comprises the city center and the following settlements: Agip, Bellavista, Buon Riposo, Caffarelli, Campo del Fico, Campo di Carne, Campoleone, Campoverde, Carano-Garibaldi, Carroceto, Casalazzara, Fossignano, Gattone, Genio Civile, Giannottola, Guardapasso, Isole, La Gogna, Montarelli, Pantanelle, Pian di Frasso, Rosatelli, Spaccasassi, Torre Bruna, Toscanini, Torre del Padiglione, Tufello, Vallelata, Valli.

In 1929, after repeated attempts, began the work of land reclamation in the area that attracted a significant number of people coming from Trentino, Veneto, from Friuli, and from Emilia Romagna.

At the end of 1931 started the real transformation of the land with deforestation in the whole area, the marsh was drained, the land was plowed and houses were built with estates ranging from . Only then  a stable population settled in living for a small part in the new urban center, most of them in rural houses.

Aprilia was an integral part of the reclamation Pontina including Littoria (then Latina), Sabaudia, Pontinia and Pomezia.

At its foundation, the Urban Center was composed of four main buildings: City, post office, church and casa del Fascio, to which were later added Cinema Littorio and the inn.

Things became critical with the advance of World War II and the beginning of the Battle of Rome.

In January 1944 Aprilia called "la fabbrica", "the factory" by the Allies, was reduced to a pile of rubble and the population took refuge in Campania and Calabria.

In the 1950s, Italians from North Africa colonies who built extensive vineyards to produce wines with Denominazione di origine controllata and some of the best grapes in Italy.

With the establishment of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno and, subsequently, the Consortium for the area of industrial development in Lazio, the future of Aprilia changed completely: it went from agriculture to a consumer 'market-oriented agriculture, and new and more technically advanced farms emerged. This was the first step toward industrialization itself.

At the end of 1951 settled in Aprilia's first factory, the Simmenthal, which was followed by many other national and international workshops. The town changed its face and gave work to many workers. Aprilia currently houses about one hundred plants, including some major corporations.

On Aprili 26, 1996, Aprilia became the sister city of Mostardas, a town of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where the national hero Menotti Garibaldi was born, and whose remains rest in Aprilia after some parts of the neighbouring town Velletri switched to Aprilia in the same year.

Geography

Frazioni
Agip, Bellavista, Buon Riposo, Caffarelli, Campo del Fico, Campo di Carne, Campoleone, Campoverde, Carano - Garibaldi, Carroceto, Casalazzara, Fossignano, Gattone, Genio Civile, Giannottola, Guardapasso, Isole, La Cogna, Montarelli, Pantanelle, Pian di Frasso, Rosatelli, Spaccasassi, Torre Bruna, Toscanini, Torre del Padiglione, Tufello, Vallelata, Valli.

Aprilia DOC
The Aprilia region is home to a  Denominazione di origine controllata DOC that is noted for its varietal wines from varieties such as Trebbiano, Merlot, Sangiovese and Abbuoto. Under DOC regulations, the wine must be labeled correctly for the grape variety in order to qualify for the DOC designation. Nearly 75% of the DOC production is centered around Trebbiano.

Additional DOC requirements include:
Merlot and Trebbiano grapes must be harvested to a yield no greater than 15 tonnes per hectare with the finished wine needing to attain a minimum alcohol level of at least 11%
Sangiovese have a maximum yield restriction of 14 t/ha with the finished wine needing at least 11.5% alcohol by volume.

Twin towns — sister cities
Aprilia is twinned with:

  Mostardas, Brazil (1996)
  Buja, Italy (1997)
  Montorio al Vomano, Italy (2000)
  Sciacca, Italy (2003)
  Ben Arous, Tunisia (2003)
  Tulcea, Romania (2003)
  Cingoli, Italy (2004)

References

External links

Category:Cities and towns in Lazio
Category:Populated places established in 1936
Category:1936 establishments in Italy
Category:Italian fascist architecture