Pontina

The Comunità Pontina dello Sport is not a city, but a territorial community of nine municipalities in the province of Latina, in Lazio, with Sabaudia as lead town ('capofila'). It brings together Latina, Terracina, Formia, Fondi, Sabaudia, Pontinia, Priverno, San Felice Circeo and Maenza, which total more than 310,000 inhabitants according to ISTAT data. Its identity is that of a young land, won from the water: the Agro Pontino was until the 1930s the marsh of the Paludi Pontine, drained by the 'bonifica' of the fascist regime, on which new rationalist-planned cities such as Littoria — today Latina — and Sabaudia itself were founded between 1932 and 1939, the latter inaugurated on 15 April 1934 and designed in barely 253 days. The territory unfolds a sharp contrast between the Tyrrhenian coast — the beaches of Terracina, Sabaudia and San Felice Circeo, next to the Circeo National Park — and the inland towns perched on the mountains, such as Priverno or Maenza.

The community's sporting heart beats in Sabaudia, national capital of rowing and canoeing. On Lago di Paola train the Italian Olympic team and foreign national squads — from Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Serbia, Egypt or Slovenia — alongside the military and state-corps sports groups (Marina Militare, Fiamme Oro, Carabinieri, Fiamme Gialle). Sabaudia alone gathers close to 60 sports associations, and its stretch of water has hosted the Rowing World Cup (2021), the Coastal Rowing World Championships (2023) and the senior European Championships (2024), as well as the 2025 Italian canoeing marathon championships.

In 2024, ACES Europe distinguished the group as Comunità Pontina dello Sport — European Community of Sport 2024, announced from its Brussels headquarters and with Sabaudia as lead town. The 'Community' category recognises precisely what Pontina represents: not the merit of a single town hall, but the cooperation of nine municipalities that share a common project in sport. Italy is one of the densest presences in the ACES network, and in the province of Latina itself the 2024 title builds on a prior tradition that had already distinguished Latina (2014), Sabaudia (2022) and Fondi (2023).