Coastal Landforms in the Southern Latium (Italy) Able to Inspire Myths and Legends.

Along the coast of southern Latium, there is a suggestive succession of beaches, cliffs, inlets and caves, which have aroused emotions in travellers of all ages. These evocative coastal forms, developed on the western edge of the Apennine chain, have attracted important scientific studies aimed above all at understanding their Quaternary geomorphological evolution. The analysis carried out has thus made it possible to highlight inlets only rarely affected by storms, faults that can be traversed almost to the point of lapping the waves, deep caves that have been inhabited since prehistoric times, abundant water springs close to the coast and even underwater at relatively warmer temperatures. The comparison of these situations, which can clearly be traced back to a natural origin and process, to a coastline mentioned in Greek and Latin mythical poems, easily becomes an object of mystery and fascination. Over time, even these same coastal forms have been surrendered to myth and legend, with the support of certain historical events that popular tradition has it that occurred along this coastline. A clear example is the case of the mountain that split at the time of Christ’s death, rather than having been formed in an age before the Upper Pleistocene. The echo of certain events has prompted tradition to “develop” a memory of them that is made tangible, even with the constructions scattered along the coast. In this contribution, we describe how the narrative of rooted local knowledge can support the understanding of the forms and processes developed in this coastal scenario.