With the Spanish rule, Gaeta became a viceroyalty, Gaeta's role as a "stronghold" was accentuated; Charles V had bastioned fortifications built on the slopes of Mount Orlando, so that they could withstand the most powerful weapons firearms.
In the year 1571 the papal fleet assembled in the port of Gaeta, here under the command of Admiral Marcantonio Colonna, on June 24 it set sail to join the rest of the Christian fleet to fight the Saracens. The flagship of the papal fleet under the admiral's command had hoisted the Standard of Lepanto
which the same commander had received on June 20, 1571 from Pope St. Pius V.
The battle was won by the Christian forces, and on his return to Gaeta Admiral Marcantonio Colonna kept his oath (he would donate the banner in case of victory to the same
Cathedral by placing it at the feet of the saint) before the relics of St. Erasmus of Antioch, protector of sailors and patron of the city. Today the banner is displayed in the diocesan museum.
On Nov. 25, 1848, Pope Pius IX took refuge in Gaeta as the guest of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon and remained there until Sept. 4, 1849, a period during which which Gaeta was the institutional seat and "de facto" capital of the State of the Church.
On Nov. 25, 1848, Pope Pius IX took refuge in Gaeta, the guest of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, and remained there until Sept. 4, 1849, a period during which Gaeta was the institutional seat and "de facto" capital of the Church State.
During this stay Pope Pius IX, enlightened by the Holy Spirit during his prayers at the Golden Chapel, decided to write the encyclical Ubi Primum with which he questioned the Catholic Episcopate on the advisability of proclaiming the Dogma of the Immaculate
Conception, which took place upon his return to Rome.
On February 13 February 1861 Francis II of Bourbon surrendered Gaeta, the last bastion of his kingdom, capitulating, after 102 days of bombardment, to the siege of the Savoy troops of General Enrico Cialdini (Siege of Gaeta 1860-1861): with the capitulation of Gaeta the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist.
The Borgo di Gaeta, a hamlet of Gaeta outside the walls, by Royal Decree of March 15, 1897, became an autonomous municipality and took the name "Comune di Elena" in honor of the then Princess Elena, future queen of Italy. Thirty years later, by Royal Decree of February 17, 1927, the municipalities of Gaeta and Elena were united again under the name Gaeta. The Borgo was identified as rione Porto Salvo, the fortified part of the city as rione Sant'Erasmo.
On 6 February 1927, Gaeta lost its ancient and famous status as a stronghold but became an important base of the Italian Navy, more specifically its port went on to constitute the main naval base in the Tyrrhenian Sea along with the port of La Spezia.
The city of Gaeta an important part of the ancient province of Terra di Lavoro of the Kingdom of Naples represented one of five district capitals. Within the Kingdom of Italy, the province was
maintained with the same name and capital and was subdivided, according to the Rattazzi law, into districts. Gaeta was a district capital until 1927 (along with Caserta, Sora, Nola and Piedimonte d'Alife).
When in 1927 the regime fascist regime reorganized Italy's administrative territorial ambits, it incorporated Gaeta into the province of Rome, then, in 1934, into the newly established province of Littoria, now the province of Latina.
Since 1970, with the establishment of regions with ordinary status, Gaeta has therefore been part of the Lazio region.
