What to see · Ladispoli

More places of interest

• Torre Flavia

  Torre Flavia, in Ladispoli, is a coastal watch and defence tower built in the Middle Ages over a structure of Roman date, perhaps a villa: as late as the thirties, on days of low tide, some of its walls could still be glimpsed. It was part of the system of towers of the Lazio coast, with the Perla tower at Palidoro, the Saracena tower at Santa Severa and those of Palo and Santa Marinella. Between 1568 and 1581 it was restored and strengthened by Cardinal Flavio Orsini, from whom it takes its name, within the coastal defence programme of Popes Pius IV and Pius V.

  What to see

  The tower has a low base, marked by a limestone string course. The masonry is a concrete core faced with a regular curtain of brick, reinforced at the corners with blocks of travertine-like limestone. Originally it was entered at first-floor level, by flights of stairs; only later was a door opened in the scarp, in line with the original one. The openings reserved for the cannons, similar to windows, can still be clearly seen.

  What remains is a ruin. In 1943, during the war, the tower was badly damaged and lost its upper floors entirely. In recent years erosion by the high tide has done the rest, despite the row of breakwaters placed in the seventies: the four original walls have broken into eight pieces, which are moving further and further apart.

  Visiting

  The interior can no longer be visited, because of the damage suffered. The tower gives its name to the Palude di Torre Flavia natural monument.

  Our editors' tip

  For a long time the tower had no cannons: in a document of 1603 the commander Curzio Gallacci recommended sending it two pieces of artillery. By 1631 the armament was there, a falconet, two small mortars, two muskets and a swivel gun. A century later the duke of Bracciano tried to move the garrison of the Palo tower here, in order to make that one his residence: the Apostolic Camera refused and, perhaps out of spite, cut the soldiers at Torre Flavia from five to three.

• Villa di Pompeo

  The so-called Villa of Pompey is an archaeological site at Marina di San Nicola, a hamlet of Ladispoli: the remains of a Roman villa by the beach, between via Venere, via Alsium and via Mercurio. The oldest structures go back to the first century BC and the Augustan age, and the villa remained in use throughout the imperial period, it is thought until the fourth or fifth century. Tradition has it that it belonged to Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, hence the name, but there is no certain proof.

  What to see

  What remains of the villa are the porticoes with brick columns and some decorated rooms, with walls in opus reticulatum and brick and mosaic floors. Then there is the cryptoporticus, a long corridor with small windows of the kind called «a gola di lupo», facing the sea, which filter the light: it was for walking sheltered from the strong sun.

  One sector of the villa is occupied by a turris, a terraced building with a view of the sea: it was the area to which the master of the house withdrew in his hours of rest, and a portico linked it directly to the beach. Near the main structure there are also rooms for commercial use and a small harbour with quays.

  Visiting

  The cryptoporticus is not open to the public. In November 2004 the town of Ladispoli decided to allocate funds for the restoration of the site; how the area can be accessed should be checked.

  Our editors' tip

  In a part of the villa rich in marbles stood a double-faced herm of the second century AD, known as the Herm of Marina di San Nicola: today it can be seen in Rome, at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia. On the spot, instead, is a lookout turret of the Second World War, in concrete, built partly reusing the ancient materials of the villa.

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