The Serene Beach Town Near Rome That's Considered One Of Italy's Best-Kept Secrets

If you're visiting Italy, Rome is the perfect place to start your vacation. This city is a place of wonders, both ancient and modern. You can't afford to miss it, though you're likely to find major crowds at most of the famous spots (outside of Rome's Appian Way, which is worth a stop). However, before you jet off to other cities like Florence, Venice, or Milan, like all the other tourists, give yourself a taste of another side of the area around the Eternal City at a nearby serene beach town called Anzio. 

You may have heard of Anzio in reference to the 1944 Allied beach landing in WWII that helped capture Rome, or the fact that Roman Emperor Nero had a villa here. (He was, in fact, born in Anzio, which was once called Antium.) Now a place where some modern Romans have vacation homes, Anzio sits an hour away from Rome by train for between $5 and $12 each way.

There is a wonderful beach to visit and you can even walk through part of Nero's villa, in addition to an archaeological park right above, featuring the rest of the villa's remains and a statue of the Emperor. You can also see Anzio's lighthouse, cemeteries that honor those who fell during the Allied landing, and a nearby nature reserve with a 16th-century tower. 

Anzio is a great spot to relax after days of sightseeing in Rome. One spot, Lido La Playa, is right between Anzio and Lavinio, the next town over. It has umbrellas that you can reserve, as well as a restaurant. There is also the Rivazzurra Beach resort right by the Nero villa, which has umbrellas, sun chairs, and on-site dining boasting locally-caught seafood. 

The beach that you absolutely cannot miss, though, is Grotte di Nerone. Before you go swimming, do note that there are no lifeguards. It's a good place for snorkeling, so keep these safety tips in mind, and while there is no parking lot, you can park on the side of the road for free. As you can see in the picture above, you'll find caves in the rock next to the beach that were once part of Nero's imperial villa complex. There are restaurants nearby if you work up an appetite while swimming.

You can see the rest of the remains of Nero's large villa above the beach at the archaeological park. The villa had frescoes, now housed in Anzio's Civic Museum, a thermal plant, several floors, and a nymphaeum (a grotto dedicated to a nymph). You can walk around the ruins and see a formal garden inspired by those of the ancient city of Pompeii, and there's a statue honoring the eccentric emperor.

Above the beach is the lighthouse of Capo d'Anzio, commissioned by Pope Pius IX in 1860 on the site of a former tower. It became operational in 1870, though it's modernized these days. In the evening, it lights up the ruins of Nero's villa, which is close by (as you can see above). While you're in the area, visit the Civic Museum, which opened on the 50th anniversary of the WWII Anzio Allied landing, located right by the city center in the lovely Villa Adele. Inside, you'll find not only the frescoes from the imperial villa and its black and white tesserae (mosaic tiles), but artifacts from other archaeological excavations and moments from the history of Anzio.

There are two WWII cemeteries to visit in Anzio. The Beach Head War Cemetery, about 1.25 miles from the center of the city, has the graves of Allied forces, as well as a soldier from WWI. The Anzio War Cemetery is another resting place for Allied forces with a memorial area and a Cross of Sacrifice.

If you want to do a little walking, you can visit the nearby Tor Caldera nature reserve, which is over 100 acres of woodland area with turtles and other wildlife to spot. At the highest point in the park, you'll see the Tor or tower from the mid-16th century. It's free to enter, with trails to hike, some springs behind the tower, and the remains of foxholes from WWII.