The beach of Rome

If you ask for directions to the beach in the middle of Rome, you won't make a mistake. The Italian capital has no less than 18 kilometers of sandy beach. It may be 30 kilometers from Piazza Navona, but it is part of the municipality of Rome. (Unlike Zandvoort Beach, which is nowadays advertised as Amsterdam Beach among foreign tourists.)

It is the coastline of Ostia, the former port of Rome, now with about 200.000 inhabitants Town Hall XIII forms the 13th district of the city. And because it is located within the municipality, you can get there for only one and a half euros, the price of a Roman public transport ticket.

The beach of Rome is located at Ostia:

Commuters and families

The shabby little train that takes half an hour from the Stazione Ostiense is packed with commuters during the week and on nice days at the weekend with families and young people in Bermudas, flip-flops, sun hats and exciting tops.

The last four stops – Lido di Ostia Centro, Stella Polare, Castel Fusano and Cristoforo Colombo – give access to the Roman beaches, while the culturally interested can get off a little earlier at the ruins of Ostia Antica, the port of ancient Rome.

modern Ostia

Modern Ostia cannot immediately be called beautiful. Apart from a small center dating from the beginning of the last century and some Jugendstil hotels, it mainly consists of revolutionary high-rise buildings such as those that were built in all Roman suburbs in the post-war years.

In addition, until recently, Ostia was the domain of two extremely violent crime clans, the Fascianis and Spadas, who had a veritable reign of terror here and were busy expanding their activities into the center of Rome. That provided enough material for the bestseller Suburra and the Netflix series of the same name.

In recent months, that has changed. The Spadas, one of whom made himself immortal by headbutting a RAI journalist in front of the running camera (!) were sentenced to heavy prison terms last week for extortion, assault, usury, theft, murder and so on. . The Fascianis had already preceded them earlier this year.

Off to the beach

The hordes that go to the beach will have that bad fame a concern. Nor are they bothered by it. Although, upon arrival, the seaside resort makes a somewhat strange impression. Nowhere is the way to the beach indicated, streets and squares make an extremely unkempt impression and there is no Tourist Information to confess.

Presumably because the crowd consists of at least 90% Romans and the few foreign visitors just trudge along with the rest. When they arrive at their destination, a further surprise awaits them. The sea is barely visible, hidden behind the walls of a long series – 27 in total – of stabilmenti balneari (beach tents) who have leased almost the entire beach here.

In Ostia, the Lungomare (beach boulevard) so turned into a Lungomuro. To get past that, you have to pay an average of 5 euros for 'use of services' (shower and toilet), while twice that amount is added for a sun lounger and umbrella.

A growling Cerberus at the entrance makes sure no one escapes that toll, but if you demand to be let through, he's obligated to do so, as the first five meters from the high tide line are freely accessible.

Free beaches

There are also free beaches within Ostia's built-up area, but I wouldn't recommend them. When the weather is nice, there are too many birds of all kinds crammed together on a few small and not too clean plots, where you literally can't turn your ass.

Rome's mayor Virgina Raggi promised two years ago when she took office that half of Ostia's beaches would be freely accessible, but like her predecessors, she has had to bow to the lobby of operators of the paid beaches and this five-star promise is also vain. turned out.

That is why I myself, when I spend a free afternoon in Ostia, opt for a pay beach, because they are clean and excellently organized, with neatly arranged loungers, bars and restaurants, lawns, sandboxes and personal cabins that you can rent per day or can rent longer.

There are even Roman families who come here every weekend and in summer for 3.000 euros August come back every day. It's whatever you want. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, Ostia remains the ideal destination for an afternoon of sun & sea outside the city bustle and smog, even when it's busy.

Peace

Because if you want real peace, go into the sea. Romans seldom venture further than where they can still stand and if the temperature of the water is below 25 degrees, it is quickly dismissed as geeelidaaa! (ice cold).

Swimming a kilometer at a hundred meters from the coast therefore guarantees total detachment in Ostia. (For those who are interested, arriving from Stella Polare station at the boulevard, you will find a few acceptable bars and restaurants in the first few hundred meters on the right.)

If you have a little more time, head to the one of the free beaches outside Ostia. From the end station of the train (Cristoforo Colombo), bus 07 (or from Acilia station bus 068) takes you in fifteen minutes past the nature reserve of Castel Porziano through a dune landscape with the typical dark green of the macchia mediterranea to a dozen free beaches. (On nice days, the car only makes sense if you come early, because along the Via Litoranea, the kilometer-long coastal road, you will soon find no parking space.)

Recommended: Spiaggia di Capocotta

I myself like to go to the beach of Capocotta, at the pavilion Mediterranean, where as a bathing guest you get almost as much space as on the Wadden Islands, with crystal clear water, lovely weather until well into October and a restaurant that you say to yourself.

A little further you will come to the Oasis Naturista, one of the rarest for 20 years Italian nudist beaches. The restaurant here is run by a not so young hippie couple, Sandro and Veronica, who see their great example in the Netherlands, because of the same-sex marriage, the drug policy and the large number of nudists.

That is also possible at Capocotta, although some of the guests here also keep their bathing shorts on. To prevent misbehavior, prohibition signs have been put up to make it clear that camping, photography, copulation and masturbation are not allowed on Capocotta. Original and unmistakable.