Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Formia

FORMIA (formerly Mola Gaëta or Castelmola), a town of Italy, in the province of Caserta, beautifully situated near the ancient Via Appia, on the innermost recess of the Gulf of Gaëta. The surrounding country is occupied with vineyards, olive plantations, and fruit gardens. Formia occupies the site of the ancient Formiæ, said to have been founded by the Tyrrhenians. At an early period it received the Roman franchise and became a municipium. Villas were built near it by many of the noble Romans; and in the grounds of the Villa Caposele there are ruins which are thought by some to have been the baths of the villa of Cicero. The villa Caposele was at one time one of the residences of the kings of Naples. The vine of the Formian hills produced excellent wine in the time of Horace. Population in 1871, 9151.