On this sunny weekend we decided to experience the first sea of the year and went to Anzio. It was a long long time ago I used to go there with my mother as a child and I remember a neverending bus trip (or long hours of hitchhiking in those "rare" cases when the local transport companies didn't work so well) in which I ALWAYS threw up! But it was more than 15 years ago, now I'm cool and with the car it's an easy 20 minute ride from home.
I'm not really the beach type, I love a different kind of sea, the rocky one, where you can see the seafloor through the crystal clear water, small and savage islands, lost creeks with nobody there. Volleyballs, parasols, families of at least 50 members, lunchboxes, beachbars and so on do not really represent my sea ideal so I have to say, I don't really go often to the beach in the continental part of Italy.
But Anzio is potentially really beautiful, at least the part of the beach running parallel to the ancient roman Nero Villa, with the high rocks and the many little caves on the background... a place where nature and culture seam to coexist perfectly. Unfortunately people don't seem to care about the place they visit and it is really a shame to see the ancient roman caves full of waste and stuff. So my first advise is not to come in full season, because I can't even imagine how it could be then. If you also have totally crazy kids like ours, that don't mind taking a long bath in the ice cold water at the end of march, you will see it will be a great success all year around!
But Anzio is potentially really beautiful, at least the part of the beach running parallel to the ancient roman Nero Villa, with the high rocks and the many little caves on the background... a place where nature and culture seam to coexist perfectly. Unfortunately people don't seem to care about the place they visit and it is really a shame to see the ancient roman caves full of waste and stuff. So my first advise is not to come in full season, because I can't even imagine how it could be then. If you also have totally crazy kids like ours, that don't mind taking a long bath in the ice cold water at the end of march, you will see it will be a great success all year around!
The Nero Villa is really amazing, one of those things you won't forget about. Probably it depends mainly on the incredible location, (I mean, you don't really have a roman building on your beach everywhere) and it seams perfectly integrated in the nature surrounding it! I remember as I was a kid, there was always a race in the morning to get to one of the little cool caves where you could take a rest from the hot sun. You can see quite the whole villa from the beach and from the main road but there is also the possibility to get in and to visit it all year round. I didn't see anybody there so I thought it was probably just closed but then I discovered you just need a reservation for the tour... next time!
The boardwalk doesn't really deserve a mention, it is quite ugly and full of restaurants and bars of all kinds and levels (we decided to take some fried fish and make a pic nic on the desert beach!). Walking along it you will arrive at the harbour and the center of the town. At 4 p.m. the fishermen come back from the sea and there is a very nice and typical fish market everyday where you can buy good fish for a really good price. Anyway, even if you have no fish-shopping intention, the walk there and in the small center is worth it.
From Anzio it is also possible to organize boat tours of one or more days to the wonderfull isole pontine (Ponza, Ventotene and Palmarola). I was in Ponza last year in May and it was great: wonderful, just few tourists, cheap and welcoming. Starting from may there is also an hydroplane that covers the route.
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