Day 1: Nettuno

We arrive in Rome about an hour late…but the sun is shining and the temperature is in the mid-70s. The flight over was reasonably okay…I slept over the Atlantic and Diana slept from London to Rome.

No problems with the luggage and very soon we are in our Peugeot station wagon leaving the airport on our way south. Our first stop–Nettuno–is about an hour down the coast and we drive along the water, past the ruins of Ostia and along the beach for the first part of the trip and then through the pine woods that separate the road from the beachfront. There are a number of undistinguished resort towns along the way but as we approach Anzio, the landscape opens up to large well-tended agricultural estates. Anzio–the site of the Allied landings in World War II–is a big seaport town; there are pretty nice beaches before we hit the town and a large attractive harbor that we drive along as we continue on to Nettuno. Nettuno is just a mile or so beyond Anzio….we pass the medieval “borgo” and the lively modern town as we look for our hotel.

The Hotel Astura Palace is a six story modern building overlooking the harbor, which is jammed with sailboats. Our large 4th floor room has a small balcony with a great view over the waterfront.

After we get settled, we head out for our first gelato of the trip at the gelateria right next to the hotel…fragole and the tartest lemon for me; pistachio, crema and the darkest Perugina chocolate for Diana. The owner is charming and the gelato great…..

I am looking for the tourist office to get a map of town. We wander through the old city–the “borgo” and through the busy modern town; the streets are filled with people at 5 pm–shopping, strolling and sitting. I continue on to scout out more of the city–walking along the beach and through the “porto turistico” which is like a shopping mall set right on the harbor. In addition to fishing and nautical shops, there are lots of regular stores and services–banks, restaurants, a bookstore–as well as a promenade along the water right under the “borgo”.

I do find a map finally at the tourist office in the port and head back to the hotel as it begins to get dark. We decide to go for dinner before it gets too late. We go back to the main square in the old town

where we had seen a few attractive places. There are two places open– right next to each other. Their menus are similar and they both look fine but one of them has no customers at all. We choose the other one–Al Centro–and sit outside on this comfortable evening. We have a very good dinner–Diana has a risotto with shrimp and a fabulous roast spigola (bass) and I have my favorite dishes–spaghetti alle vongole and fried small local fish as well as a plate of cicoria. Dessert is an excellent crostata and a pretty good panna cotta. We ask the waiter for a recommendation for a local dry white and he brings us a bottle of Malvasia from Nettuno–which turns out to be wonderfully drinkable and–very surprisingly–only costs 5 euros. As a matter of fact, the whole meal is pretty reasonable–a lot of food–including a whole fish, for Euro 70.00 (about $100.00 US)

We enjoy our dinner very much but feel badly for the next door restaurant since no customers ever chose it and “our” restaurant continues to be busy with both Italians and visitors.

We are back at the hotel and asleep before 10 pm…and very happy to be back in Italy.

Jim and Diana