The Rome Riviera spans the coastline from Marina di Palidoro to Torre Astura, the southernmost watchtower in the municipality of Nettuno. Along its virtually uninterrupted 86 kilometres, sandy shores are divided by two promontories: the Isola Sacra, at the mouth of the Tiber, and the Cape of Anzio, further south. Behind the shore, apart from the dominating presence of Rome, we find the charming rural scenery of Maccarese and the volcanic contours of the Monti Albani.
Following the coastline from north, after Marina di Palidoro and the mouth of the Tiber, the Ostia Lido is the biggest and best-organised beach resort in the area, with a promenade packed with restaurants and “bathing establishments”, including the historical Battistini dating from al 1911, and the Kursaal, designed by the architect Pier Luigi Nervi, with its famous diving platforms. Although the area had been popular as far back as the 19th century, it wasn’t until the 1920s that it really became Rome’s outlet to the sea. In 1965, following the donation of part of the beach belonging to the presidential estate of Castel Porziano, it became by far the most popular beach for Romans, much loved by movie directors, including Fellini, who filmed some scenes of Amarcord and I Vitelloni there.
The mostly sandy coastline proceeds, with little beach resorts like Torvajanica, Ardea, and Lavinio, as far as Anzio, with its harbour, which was used in Roman times and is today equipped with excellent leisure facilities, restaurants, beach clubs and a tourist/sports marina that hosts regattas (in winter too). There are also connections to the Pontine Islands.
The Roman Riviera ends with the beach resort of Nettuno, famous for its elegant early twentieth-century villas and its medieval old town dominated by the sixteenth-century castle, partly designed by Antonio Sangallo the Elder.