The Province of Latina () is an area of local government at the level of province in the Republic of Italy. It is one of five provinces that form the region of Lazio. The provincial capital is the city of Latina. It is bordered by the provinces of Frosinone to the north-east and by the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital to the north-west. It has an area of and a population of 561,189 (2012). There are 33 comuni (singular: comune) in the province. Sub-divisions of the province The most populous comuni are: History The province of Latina was founded on 18 December 1934, encompassing mainly the drained areas of the Agro Pontino previously part of the province of Rome. Apart from the Pontine lands, it includes the Aurunci, Lepini and Ausoni mountain ranges, as well as the Pontine islands archipelago. The port of Gaeta and Formia, in the southernmost part of the province, belonged traditionally and linguistically to Campania. In Bronze Age, complex permanent settlement systems and functionally differentiated societies developed in the Pontine region. This included preparation of fish and salt at the coast and metallurgy slightly inland. Late Iron Age fortified settlements evolved on the Alban hills and Monti Lepini. Small-scale farming and urbanisation developed only in or right before the Roman Age with transhumant pastoralism still continuing. From 350 BC onwards, the colonies of Cora (Cori), Norba and Setia (Sezze) were built. The small peasant economy was gradually replaced by large specialised latifundia. Geography Although the smallest of the provinces in the Lazio region, the province of Latina includes a variety of geographical and historical areas. Hill and mountain areas The mainland area is, in the south- and north-eastern part, mostly occupied by limestone hills and mountains. Ranges include the Lepini, Aurunci, Ausoni. The highest elevation is that of Monte Petrella (Aurunci). The climate is semi-continental with hot summers and cold winters; temperatures rarely fall below . The mountains are characterized by small medieval settlements (borghi) and traditionally live of cattle raising and agriculture; however, these activities saw a marked decline in recent times, and today workers usually commute daily to work in Rome or Latina. Tourism is an increasing interesting resource, attracted especially by the uncontaminated nature and by artistic traces of the Middle Ages (Abbeys of Valvisciolo and Fossanova, where St. Thomas Aquinas died). The main centres of this area are Cori, Sezze, and Priverno.