(He was, in fact, born in Anzio, which was once called Antium.) Now a place where some modern Romans have vacation homes, Anzio sits an hour away from Rome by train for between $5 and $12 each way.

On the 70th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Anzio, LIFE presents photos -- many of them never published before -- from the front. Sign Up for Our Ideas Newsletter POV.

Picture dated May 1944 showing U.S. tanks rolling from the open doors of an LST landing craft onto the shore of the Anzio beachead, South of Rome, on the West coast of Italy, during World War II.

Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Anzio Beachhead museum. Opened in January 1994, in the 50th Anniversary of the Allied landings, the Anzio Beachhead Museum is hosted at the ground ...

The town of Anzio is haunted by the memory of a little girl who may never have existed. The landing at Anzio, 25 miles south of Rome, on 22 January 1944, was a critical moment in the Second World War.

On the 23rd of January the destroyer HMS Janus was sunk by a glider bomb off Anzio few survivours. On 24January 44 Hospital ship SS St David fully illuminated red crosses, Was bombed and sunk off ...