Circeo National Park

National Park Established In 1934 To Preserve A Remnant Of The Pontine Marsh And Forest After Its Drainage, Covering The Coastal Dune, Four Ramsar Lakes, The Selva Di Circeo And Monte Circeo · Sabaudia, Lazio

The last surviving fragment of the forest and marsh that covered this coast before Mussolini drained it in the 1930s, protected in 1934 specifically so that something would be left to show what had been destroyed. It is an odd shape: a strip of coastal dune running about twenty-five kilometres, four brackish lakes behind it, a block of ancient lowland oak forest, a limestone promontory rising abruptly out of the flat at the southern end, and an island thirty kilometres offshore. The promontory is Monte Circeo, which classical writers identified as Circe's island, and there is a cave at its foot where a Neanderthal skull was found in 1939. The lakes are a Ramsar wetland on a major migration route and the reason serious birdwatchers come. It is ninety minutes from Rome, which makes it the capital's nearest real wilderness, and most Romans use it as a beach. Come in spring or autumn for the migration instead, when the lakes are full and the coast is empty.

Via Carlo Alberto 107, Sabaudia, Lazio, 04016, Italy

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED, and the park has none: it is open country with free access and no gate. The visitor centre and museum at Sabaudia keep seasonal hours with a weekly closing day. GUIDED ACCESS to the Grotta Guattari and the archaeological area runs at set times and is not always operating. Boat trips to Zannone are seasonal and need arranging. Beach lido stretches operate roughly Easter to September. Dune road parking is charged and enforced in summer. Confirm the cave and the boat first.

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