Separated by only few kilometers. Enough to keep them divided for centuries before becoming a minimum distance between the two souls of a single municipality, formally born on May 4, 1811, in the middle of the French decade.
Since then Baia and Latina have identified a unique administrative reality in the valley of middle Volturno, which is however enriched by the presence of two hamlets, each of them with a long and fascinating history.
Which traces are much older than the first official records of these realities, dating back to the bubble of St. Stefano from Caiazzo in 979.
Baia, originally Vaia, from Vaiarulo, would have been founded by the Etruscans. Instead on La Tina, this is the original toponym, many more or less legendary hypotheses have been made. One of those traces the name of the town back to an ancient epigraph, strangely disappeared, where it was said that Lavinia, daughter of King Latino and wife of Aeneas, would have passed there and that inspired the name of the village and the dedication of a temple to Minerva. But another version traces the toponym to the presence of a Latin legion and yet another attributes the foundation to the Samnites. Evidently, like all of Campania felix, that was an area of passage, meeting and border between various Italic peoples, before Rome extended its dominion everywhere. Thus, Baia and La Tina developed separately, although, given their proximity, they found themselves sharing some historical events and belonging to the same feudal lords. But the unification came only at the beginning of the 19th century and was also opposed for some time by the two communities. Who found themselves dramatically separated again at the end of World War II, when the Allies liberated Latina while the Germans were still firmly quartered in Baia, which they left only three days later. But the fate of the bombing that had damaged most of the historic buildings had been the same.
On the top of the hill around which Latina has developed there is the church of Our Lady of Grace, in a splendid position overlooking the valley and up to the Maiella. Strategic position shared by the nearby castle, of which a tower remains, which once served as viewpoint. What remains of it, starting with the characteristic battlements, has been saved by a careful restoration.
The village of Baia was also dominated by a turreted castle built by the normans, that has also been restored, towards which all the picturesque streets going into the historic center converge. Behind the village stands the sanctuary of Mary Ss. Assunta, which according to the legend, the Madonna suggested to a local to whom she had appeared in a dream, where to build it. Of particular value are the ancient statues of the Madonna, Saints Cosma and Damiano and St. Lazzaro that are solemnly carried in procession for the feast of the Assumption. A little further up is the Astrologer's tower, where it is said that an astrologer lived and predicted the future to knights and nobles.
In the territory of Baia and Latina are the ruins of the Holofernes bridge, allowing the ancient Via Latina to cross the Volturno. Two huge eighteen meter pylons remain, testifying the considerable size of the structure built with blocks of travertine.
