----------TRAVEL NOTES

  FOUR DAYS IN LATIUM
   Period:  ""
   Province/State:  "LAZIO"
A Tour of Ancient Rome

800km in 6 days

We wanted to see some of the old Roman sights but as we had already visited Rome years ago and renting a motorhome and leaving it in a car park for four days didn’t make much sense we put together an itinerary that took us around the countryside in lower Latium (Lazio). We drove down the west coast stopping overnight in Porto Santo Stefano on the Argentario Peninsula and got an early start the next day.

First stop…Ostia

We were surprised to read that Ancient Ostia is the second best preserved Roman town following Pompeii. It used to be the port of Rome and was fortified in order to protect Rome from attacks by pirates sailing up the river Tevere. There was plenty to see and do and we spent most of the morning walking around this fascinating town. In the afternoon we set off in the direction of Castel Gandolfo, in Popes summer retreat. We didn’t see the Pope as it was late April but there were the Swiss Guards pacing up and down in front of the palace. Don’t forget to have a look at some of the frescoes in a church called San Tommaso di Villanova. There’s a lovely square in front of the palace and the town offers some wonderful views of Lake Albano.

Tivoli and the Ciociaria Hills

Our second day took us to Tivoli where we visited Villa Hadrian built by Emperor Hadrian in AD 134. It is, in fact, the biggest Roman villa in Italy. However, there are others that are quite breathtaking: Villa d’Este and Villa Gregoriana that are both well worth a visit. By the way…on a tour like this one you need some good walking shoes!! In the afternoon we headed for Anticoli Corrado and Subiaco both a bit off the beaten track but nevertheless impressive! The views from Anticoli were superb and the town itself has remained pretty much unspoilt. In Subiesco, we visited some of the monasteries dedicated to St. Benedict namely Santa Scolastica and San Benedetto high above the town.

Gaeta and Sperlongo

The following day we headed for Gaeta in the south of the province. It’s quite a lively town with lots of bars and restaurants but we had come to see the Tower of Orlando, a huge rock with a Roman mausoleum built on top. We then popped down to see the archaeological site of Minturnae.
In the afternoon we went to Sperlongo, the drive along the coast road was spectacular; the town was quite like Gaeta, built on a promontory.

The Island of Ponza

On our last day in Lazio we decided to leave the motorhome on the mainland and spent the day visiting Ponza. We took the bikes with us and cycled around the island which was very quite at that time of year but that didn’t upset us much. We had lunch in a restaurant and later in the afternoon we headed back to the mainland. We parked for the night in the Circeo National Park and set off early in the morning for Bergamo.




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