Sperlonga was built as a medieval fortress on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Gaeta. It is very picturesque, with narrow paved streets, many made up mostly of steps, and houses nearby with bridges connecting them. The town has been more than once attacked and taken by moorish pirates, most famously by Khayr al-Din Barbarossa in 1534.
The two beaches on the two sides of the old town of Sperlonga are quite popular. One beach stretches all the way to Terracina, 18km away. The other beach ends at a cave known as the "Grotta di Tiberio", "Grotto of Tiberius" or "Cave of Tiberius". The emperor Tiberius was known to have a villa in the area. The cave has yielded a number of marble sculptures which are housed in the museum that is along the via Flacca not far from the cave, a little South of the town.
