Before Rome there were the Volsci, and Antium was their capital: the ancient city, which included today's Nettuno, held out a long time before being absorbed. Then it became the beach of the Roman aristocracy: Nero was born here, and the remains of his imperial villa still step down to the sea; the Apollo Belvedere came out of the Neronian harbour. But the place was inhabited long before that: at Cavallo Morto, in 1981, a Bronze Age necropolis came to light, among the oldest evidence of cremation in Lazio.
History came back with a roar on 22 January 1944: the Allied landing at Anzio and Nettuno opened the road to Rome, and the museums and war cemeteries keep the memory of it with composure. Along the coast at Tor Caldara the ground still smokes: mineral springs and sulphur emissions, left over from the volcanic activity of Lazio, among cliffs and the last scraps of the forests that once covered this shore. Today Anzio is a town of fishermen and holidaymakers: the trawlers unload at the port, the restaurants serve anchovies baked in a pan, the ferries sail for Ponza. Rome is an hour away, the sea is right there.
Teatro romano di Anzio
Carbonara
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Next up: Saint Anthony of Padua, patron and protector of Anzio's fishermen, Sunday 13 June
Nearest airport: Roma Ciampino, 39 km away
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📅 Every year, on 13 June, with the procession to the Innocentian harbour and the blessing of the town from the sea
Anzio celebrates Saint Anthony of Padua on 13 June; after Mass the statue of the saint, protector of fishermen, is carried in procession to the Innocentian harbour, loaded onto a boat and taken to bless the town from the sea.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Anzio, but an easy day trip away.
