Within a 20 minute drive of our house, down beautiful country roads, you will find the unique, white washed town of Sperlonga. Your first glimpse of Sperlonga is on a windy road from our house toward the sea. You will see the blue waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea peaking out amongst the hills as you navigate the curvy roads. We can see Sperlonga from our house and it always beckons us to come. The road toward Sperlonga looks like our own personal Amalfi Coast but without the crowds, price and pretense.
Cliff meets sea in a dramatic drop and the result is breathtaking. Just before you can see the white ancient city of Sperlonga there will be a little shoulder On the road, that you can pull off on and take in the view. Down below at the Sea to your left you will see the ancient crumbles of Tiberius Ceasars Villa. Tiberius Caesar was the Caesar that ruled Rome during the time of Jesus death ( 14 CE-37 CE, Luke 3:1). Of course he lived in Rome but vacationed here in Sperlonga and this was the location of his summer home.
You can gaze down at the ancient crumbles and see the sprawling rooms that made up his Villa. I really recommend visiting the little museum here (entrance fee €5, open Monday- Sunday 8:30-7:30 pm) as it is very interesting to see the statues that were found right here at this site and date back 2000 years.
The statues are of Greek mythology and help the visitor to understand that the Roman Ceasars really believed they were the ancestors of the gods. It also helps you get perspective when you see the maps on the wall that show us which towns have been around for 2000 years and which ones have been around since Medieval times.
I enjoy walking the ruins of Tiberius villa and visiting his cave where the many statues were found. This will give you a taste of what Pompeii is like, to walk around the ancient ruins, imagining life as it was 2000 years ago.
After your tour of Tiberius Villa and Caves, it’s time to continue on your tour of the little town of Sperlonga itself. Park your car in the parking lot and enter the town, you will feel like you have been transported to the Greek isle of Mykonos as you walk the white washed streets accented in blue. The little, narrow streets wind around town and surprise the visitor with openings of the blue sea accented by the white washed walls.
Meandering the streets is the point of being in Sperlonga, this is the destination, just get lost and look around. Every door is painted blue with bright red bougainvillea accentuating the arched corridors. It’s a photographers dream with every balcony and staircase being cuter than the next.
Make your visit to Sperlonga like a treasure hunt of history. If you read my post about Itri, you will know the story of Giulia Gonzaga, the princess who lived in the Castles of Itri and Fondi. The Pirate Barbarossa was commissioned by the Sultan Suleiman of the Ottoman Empire to bring back Italy’s riches and the most beautiful girl in Italy. So in 1531 Barbarossa came ashore here, in Sperlonga, and tried to capture the Princess Giulia Gonzaga from her castle in Fondi.
When she escaped through a secret passage way, Barbarossa was so angry that he pillaged the towns of Sperlonga and Itri. The paintings that tell the story are here, painted on the white walls of Sperlonga. Look for the “piazzetta” or tiny square that has the old well in the center. Here on the wall is the painting that tells the story of Barbarossa the Red Beard Pirate. The drawings are painted on the oldest building in Sperlonga, a building built for the Benedictine monks in 1100 CE.
At any point in this self guided tour of Sperlonga feel free to settle down at a table in a piazza and order lunch or a Spritz. This is what you came to Italy for, to enjoy the “Dolce Vita”, the sweet life. People watching is always part of the fun and if you are the one sitting at a table with a Spritz, it’s guaranteed that people will also be watching you, wishing it was them sipping the Spritz. Yep, it’s what people want to do in Italy, to see and to be seen, the world is your stage and home is just your dressing room. Thats Italy.
After your refreshment you can continue on your treasure hunt, this time make your way out to the watchtower. This iconic building has taken many forms over the years, starting out as a Roman tower, pillaged and destroyed many times over.
The current shape makes for striking pictures and I never tire of seeing it and snapping a new picture. Stroll along the promenade, taking the time to look out over the blue sea and looking up at the towering medieval town above you.
Sit on a white bench among the ever blooming lantana flowers and watch the boats at the marina. I’m always surprised at the cactus and love seeing this town and this view in every season during all the hours of the day.
You can walk down to the Watchtower and go inside or continue skirting the town to the right. Along this way, you find some beautiful tile and more vistas of everything Sperlonga. To your right you should see more sprawling beaches and the newer side of Sperlonga. Here as you walk down from the old town and into the new you will find a couple of gelato shops. We always get a gelato and consider it some of the best, it’s all part of the Sperlonga experience.
After slurping your gelato, it’s time to work off those calories by hiking back up the narrow white streets in the old town. Pop into a few shops, there is a perfume shop and a leather shop and many more. Finally come back out to the main square with the bright red bougainvillea sprawled across the white wall.
If you hit it at the right time it will be Sunset, curve around to the “look out” point near the parking garage and take a look at the vantage point. The sun will be setting perfectly on another beautiful day in Italy.
This post was about the town of Sperlonga, which deserves at least a half day of your attention. But if you came in the summertime, you will need to dedicate at least a half day to the beach. It’s one of the best in Italy. It has wide expanse of beach, bars for coffee, drinks and snacks and beautiful views of the old city.
If you are visiting in May or June the beaches and parking should be easily accessible. If you are here in July or August, you are here in peak tourist season. The benefits are warm water, sunny hot days and plenty of people watching!
The down side is that parking is at a premium and so is the beach! It may be worth your effort to pay the price for a sunbed and umbrella and parking in one price. This can be between €20 and €30 a couple. The benefit is you can stay all day. So pack your drinks and snacks, sunscreen and A book and spend the day!
If you stay on the section of beach nearest the cliff you can swim in the caves reached by renting a paddle boat. You will swim in the bluest water reminiscent of Capri. If four people rent the paddle boat you will pay €5 per person.
Once you get around the cliff to the other side, someone must stay in the boat but the others can swim to the caves. Be careful, you should be a good swimmer and you must watch out for the jagged rocks because the waves will push you as you enter the caves and it’s easy to get scrapped! This should only be attempted if you are adventurous!
If you have a waterproof speaker, it’s fun to play music while you paddle out to the caves. When we rented a paddle boat last year we played ABBA music and I felt like I was staring in my own movie, spending a summer on a Greek Island! “There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando..” or “Super-trooper, light is gonna find me, shining like the sun, smiling having fun, feeling like a number one…”
If you want the cheaper way to go to the beach in Italy, you can look for parking in the street, but be careful, in the summer months they will give you a parking ticket if it’s not paid up from the parking meter. Then you can look for the “free beach”, you will recognize it by the section that is a jumble of different colored umbrellas cloistered together between the neat rows of lounge chairs. You can lay down a blanket and set up your own umbrella in these areas. Of course, this is what we usually do!
This is how a beach day goes in Italy:
- first you get set up on the beach
- then you take a dip in the water because it’s hot!
- then you lay in the sun until you warm back up
- then go get a coffee at the beach bar
- It’s time to rent your paddleboat, you must do this before lunch because the waves could pick up and they won’t let you go to the caves if the waves are up.
- After the paddleboat have some lunch because you worked up an appetite! We always bring a lunch: salami, cheese, olives, bread and Prosecco! Maybe some fruit and chocolate?
- then get back in the water, bobbing along talking to your friends
- get out and lay in the sun, you gotta work on that tan!
- get back in the water, repeat
- play some water sports or beach sports
- get back in the water, repeat
- by now it’s 6:00, either call it a day and head home so you can prepare for the big event tonight: dinner!
- alternatively you can stay lounging on the beach all the way to sunset! This is for the hard core beach people!
- Or pull yourself off the beach, change into your nice clothes there on the beach and head up to old town Sperlonga for a Spritz and a tour of town!
If you would like to read more about our Villa and Places Near Us, try:
If you would like to read more about my adventures in Italy, try one of these:
- A Californian Surfing in Italy (Published May 1, 2019)
- Our New Town in Italy (Published June 17, 2019)
- Life Lessons from the Secret Garden (Published June 21, 2019)
- Homemade Pizza in a “Wood-fired” Pizza Oven (Published July 5, 2019)
- A Morning Run in Nettuno (Published September 10, 2017)
- A Visit to Castelli Romani (Published September 13, 2017)
- Dinner for Six (Published October 1, 2017)
- Italian Cooking School (Published October 8, 2017)
- Culinary Tour of Napoli (Published November 17, 2017)
- Changing Seasons in Italy (Published November 25, 2017)
- Cooking with Pasquale (Published January 28, 2018)
- A Tour of the Garden of Ninfa (Published May 7, 2018)
- A Trip to Montefiascone (Published May 17, 2018)
- San Gimignano, a visit to a Tuscan Hill Town (Published June 9, 2018)
- Tuscan Hot Springs of San Filippo & Saturnia (Published June 13, 2018)
- Florence in Fall (Published Nov 6, 2018)
- Villas, Palaces and Fortresses (published November 25, 2018)
- Hill Towns of Central Italy (published January 14, 2019)
- The Italian Alps in February (Published February 13, 2019)
