Civitavacchia to Ladispoli

Friday 22nd January.

Civitavecchia -Ladispoli

By the time we had organised ourselves to leave the town it was pretty late but a glorious day. We bravely followed the Via Aurelia which is the main coast road out of town, as advised by the bike shop. It was busy but very pretty as it runs between the nice resort of Santa Marinella and the Tolfa Hills. It was refreshing to see gentle green sloping hills after the craggy peaks in Spain. We stopped off to glance at the Castello Odescalchi and admired the yachts in the marina. The Etruscan port and castle had been built in the 9th centuary by Brazilian Monks and was devoted to St Marina.

The harbour at Odescalchi

The Castello

Odescalchi

at Santa Marinella

Further on we picnicked on the beach beneath the walls of San Severa Castello. Otherwise known as Pyrgi. A fisherman appeared out of the sea in front of us clad from head to toe in black rubber, his spear gun at the ready having caught 4 octopi/octopussies. Now can’t remember the correct spelling! Very James Bond but a bit on the tubby side!

Bag full of octopussies!

Roman towers at Pyrgi

Pyrgi had been the main port in Roman times and there are still some remains of the old gates and walls. It has a very large Norman tower and the castle and village was built around it. It is now a maritime museum and research centre but we didn’t have time to do it justice as had to go quite a way in the afternoon to find the next hotel, if there even is one.

Old Roman wall and tower at Pyrgi

Arriving in Ladispoli at first there didn’t seem to be anywhere to stay and to make matters worse none of the bars or cafes had wi.fi. as we’ve found the internet to be the most effective way of selecting our accommodation. In the end we just went into the first hotel we found and took whatever they had. By now it was getting dark and bitterly cold which after such a surprisingly warm day was a shock.
Our abiding thought for the day was that we were pretty happy to be in Italy, the warmth, countryside, architecture, breakfasts all seemed pretty acceptable.