One location kept being recommended by locals as a worthy nearby beach trip: Santa Severa. Only one stop shy of Santa Marinella where we visited a few weeks ago, the city was again easily accessible by regional train from Rome.
Santa Severa is popular as a beach because of the Castello that sits at the beginning of the length of this stretch of sand, making for picture perfect views, particularly early or late in the day.
It was a bit of a windy day which hampered getting too far into the water and we ran up against the classic Italian challenge of restaurants having strict opening and closing hours and us being hungry (starving) outside of those hours. But soon after getting settled into our beach chairs, the restaurant opened and Dalia scored one of the best pistacchio seafood pastas of our lives!
Our day trip also marked Aleksander’s 10th birth-month celebration. The castle, sun and sea made for another magical background to mark his growth and development and a great memento to share with him in future.
We spent a handful of hours absorbing our vitamin D and meandered back to the train station for the quick ride back to Rome. Our first summer of Roman exploration is almost at an end but the list of cities, towns, villages, beaches and restaurants to visits remains healthy and long.
Our summer season of exploration continued with a day trip to Bracciano, a medieval town 30kms from Rome, overlooking a large volcanic lake.
The availability and diversity of great places to visit within an hour or two of Rome is truly astonishing. After our trip to Gondolfo, also seated atop a volcanic lake, we decided to give Bracciano a go and were definitely not disappointed.
Arriving just before noon on a sunny Saturday, we strolled the medieval alleyways in the hilltop Centro Storico. We looked for viewpoints of the lake, got lost in the historical architecture and pushed the stroller around some very narrow streets, all before sitting down to a well-earned pasta lunch.
Bellies full, we turned to Bracciano’s main terrestrial draw, the Castello Orsini-Odescalchi, which provided stunning views of the panorama below and also stunningly difficult quarters for stroller movement! My cousin mentioned that Tom Cruise was once married at this castle and it’s easy to imagine either medieval or modern celebrations taking place here early into the morning hours.
Our final stop in Bracciano was at the beach! Beach hopping around Rome has been one of my treasured summer past times here and we thought it would be nice to try a freshwater dip rather than the salty and sometimes choppy coastal waters.
Again, aside from the challenging walk down and then up the hill to and from the beach, it was an absolutely lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The cool clean crispness of the lake was a welcome reprieve to the hot Italian sun and Dalia enjoyed a long leisurely swim in the serene environment.
Overall, Bracciano was another great find and so easy to access from Rome. We’ll keep it in mind for future trips with visitors or when needing a break from the salty waves of Ostia.
On our continuing quest to explore the easy-to-reach beaches of Rome, we ventured away from Ostia and landed on the soft, sandy crescent of Santa Marinella beach.
Just about an hour train ride from Rome Termini, Santa Marinella ranked high on many ‘best beaches’ lists that we searched and we were not disappointed. The day was blazing hot, the beach was full and lively, and water and slight breeze a real safe haven from the scorching sand.
We dined al fresco steps from where our ombrello and lettinos were. Aleksander managed to nap on both train rides and even in the shade of our seventh row beach location. And I even found time and energy to review some French grammar for an upcoming work-required exam.
It was nice to visit a place with better sand and stiller waves than Ostia. A location full of local Italians enjoying their summers. And create another lovely memory for our family in our first summer in Rome.
After almost three months in Italy and more than three years since a proper beach-bum vacation, we organized ourselves for a one-week stay on the beautiful and nearby island of Sardinia.
It had been so long since we took a vacation and with the pandemic still ongoing and now a baby in tow, our planning skills had become quite rusty. Based on a few recommendations from locals and after reviewing a handful of blogs, we decided to stick to the south coast of Sardinia, an island with over 2000 kms of coastline and seemingly endless options for beautiful silky beaches and turquoise waves.
We started our 8 night trip flying into Cagliari, the largest city on the south coast of Sardinia. The flight was less than an hour from Rome and again, thankfully, Aleksander managed the metro, train and plane ride with little fuss.
Our first accommodation was modest but located just steps away from the 6km long Poetto beach in Cagliari, a perfect jumping off spot to get our tans from zero to light lobster level.
We spent a glorious first day at the Lido Beach Club in Cagliari, alternating Aleksander between the cool sea water and shady umbrella and beach chairs. The heat was intense and much more than anything we had experienced since visiting Greece in 2018 so our complexions paid a bit of a price but there’s nothing like just going for it!
Our second day in Cagliari we spent walking around the city. Most people had undersold it as a destination in and of itself but we found it very charming, historic and peacefully empty. We happened upon an amazing lunch just below the famous 13th century Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta e Santa Cecilia and casually strolled the city streets, gelato in hand.
From Cagliari, we really engaged the full beachness of a Sardinian escape by heading to Villasimius, a typical vacation town on the south-east corner of the island. Here we found an abundance of beaches to choose from, the early signs of other European travellers returning and the kind of seafood you write home about. If we did another trip to Sardinia, I think I’d be keen on making Villasimius our headquarters for longer than just a few days. It’s the perfect place from which to comfortably explore the many amazing things this part of Sardinia has to offer.
Our final two days were spent back on the other side of Cagliari, in a fancier hotel near the town of Santa Margherita di Pula. The roasting weather finally let up, giving us some time to relax from dedicated beaching but still enjoy the fabulous infinity pool at the Hotel Costa dei Fiori and wonderful breakfasts and dinners.
We strolled the grounds, took loads of pictures of bushes in full beautiful bloom and took advantage of our comfortable room and bed for some final rest before returning to the outside world.
Overall, our trip to Sardinia was as much as we could have hoped for. Restful, beautiful, satisfying. We didn’t really know how much we needed a vacation (says everyone on Earth these days…) but we flew back to Rome grateful, re-energized and excited for our first summer in the Italian capital, with an eye already towards our next vacation – Sicily in September!
After a month of weekends spent in Rome, visiting and revisiting many of the city’s best known historical sites, we decided it was time to leave these beautiful urban confines. It hasn’t been an entirely easy transition to European life with a stroller. The ancients weren’t necessarily thinking about baby problems when they designed and laid out their streets. So one of our biggest concerns about leaving our home area, even for a few hours, is how to manage with a six month old. We ultimately decided to test out leaving the stroller behind, only bringing a carrier and hoping Aleksander’s head doesn’t bobble too much napping for a few hours strapped to our chests.
The destination we decided on was the seaside town of Ostia. Ostia is well-known amongst Romans as a quick and easy summer escape from the concrete, heat and crowds of peak tourist season in the Eternal City. It’s a very convenient 20-minute city train ride from Rome and the train was busy with beach seekers, young and old, keen to return to a normal post-pandemic summer life.
Since one of my main life goals while living in Rome is to be a member of a beach club, I was thrilled to see the sand and lapping waves of the Mediterranean. The hot sun was buffered by a cool seaside breeze and we kept ourselves and Aleksander hydrated at every step. We took pictures on the Ostia pier, sat down for a wonderful seafood lunch, grabbed a gelato (of course), walked the boardwalk (assessing beach clubs) and even dipped Aleksander’s toes in the water.
Dalia is essentially a mermaid who loves the water so we’re thrilled to have a beach within such a short distance from our home. We look forward to further exploring Ostia in future, as well as working through all the ‘beaches to visit’ lists we can find.
Dad in the world will hopefully soon become dad on the beach!
Dad In The World 