Santi Cosma e Damiano is a small town in the province of Latina located partly on the south-eastern slopes of the Monti Aurunci and partly on the Garigliano plain.

The centre is one with the nearby town of Castelforte.

It is named after the two Christian doctor brothers who were martyred during Diocletian’s empire. They were also called anargiri because they offered their care without any compensation. According to tradition, the two saints passed through this territory on their way to Rome and stayed in a cave, where a small chapel was later built in their honour, which later became the current patron saint’s church.

Some historians claim that the territory of Santi Cosma e Damiano in pre-Roman times belonged to ancient Vescia, one of the cities of the Aurunca Pentapolis.

In the Middle Ages it was under the influence of the Montecassino Abbey and became part of the Land of St Benedict.

During the Second World War it suffered heavy damages as its territory was crossed by the Gustav Line, built by the Germans to stop the Allied advance towards Rome.

Santi Cosma and Damiano’s main monuments include the medieval Ventosa Tower, the patronal Church of Saints Cosma and Damiano in the old town, the Church of St Martin of Tours and the 17th-century Palazzo Tibaldi.

The Ventosa Tower, built between the 12th and 13th centuries, served to control the northern area. It has a square base, is 24 metres high and is made of limestone. The entrance was through an opening on the east side, 7.20 metres high, presumably using a ladder. Inside was a cistern for rainwater, which ensured water supply for the inhabitants for a long time.

It was part of a defensive system, which also included the nearby Castelforte Tower and Suio Tower, placed to control the Garigliano Plain and the Aurunci Mountains. The Tower of Minturno, on the other hand, ensured control of the sea together with the other coastal towers.

In the hamlet of Ventosa, Benedictine monks built a small monastery (cella) dedicated to St John the Baptist in the early 9th century. Around the end of the 14th century, it changed its name and became the ‘monasterium Sancti Martini’. Damaged by Napoleon’s troops in 1799, the church was reconsecrated twenty years later (1819).