L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano I t is a well-known fact t h a t t h e c i t y o f R o m e b e c o m e s a stifling oven during the summer months, and it is during this time that the city appears eerily quiet every weekend, as the locals evacuate the city for some cool respite. Not to forget that in August, it is tradition for Italians to have their summer (often annual) vacation, and even if it's not a full month as was once the norm, they will make sure they head to the beach or the cooler mountains for at least two weeks. M a n y t o u r i s t s v i s i t i n g Rome don't often question if Rome is a seaside city. That might seem absurd to some, but the question isn't at all a s s i l l y a s i t s e e m s . T h e Eternal City has always had a very strong bond with the sea. In Roman times, Rome already had a series of ports, which started from the coast and reached inside the city following the course of the Tiber River. The actual distance, as the crow flies, from the city cen- tre to the sea is about 25 kilometres, but for Romans t o d a y , t h i s d i s t a n c e i s n ' t really considered as far, as opposed to what it was prob- ably when travelling during Roman times. The first real heat usually arrives to Rome in June, and although May does see some gorgeously warm tempera- tures, by June the city can be steaming. It is at this time that the typical Roman is pervaded by a thrill, a crav- ing, an urgent need to go to the sea, to put their feet on a beach, especially to swim. It matters little that the sea near Rome is not like that of the tropics: the important thing is to go, and maybe (obviously) combine the trip with a delicious seafood lunch. How much Rome is basi- cally a seaside city can be seen by the urban planning. The sea of Rome is Ostia, a town about 25 kilometres from the city centre. It is a town which has grown con- TONI BRANCATISANO siderably since the 1920s and now has a population of m o r e t h a n 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 . Nevertheless, Ostia is easily c o n n e c t e d t o t h e c i t y o f Rome, and is easy to get to. Firstly, by road through the V i a O s t i e n s e , w h i c h w a s built by Bentito Mussolini during the 1920s and the 1930s. Mussolini wanted to connect Piazza Venezia to Via Ostiense and to the sea. To achieve this, he needed to f r e e V i a T o r d e ' S p e c c h i ( n o w V i a d e l T e a t r o M a r c e l l o ) f r o m m e d i e v a l a n d s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y churches and buildings, and so all these were torn down t o c r e a t e t h e o l d V i a d e l Mare – "the beach road." A second, very easy way to get to Ostia from Rome is by a regional train, and the t r a i n s t a t i o n i n O s t i a i s l o c a t e d w a l k i n g d i s t a n c e from the beach. Ostia is not an autonomous municipali- ty, but a district, or suburb of the city of Rome. Think of it as a huge neighbourhood, or a small city by the sea that is a combination of ugly and modern but also of beautiful Art Nouveau buildings. It is fair to say that Ostia is the The love story between Rome and the sea ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES Continued to page 22 The beach in Santa Severa, near Rome (Photo: Marco Ciannarella/Dreamstime) Rome has many connections to the sea and there are plenty of beautiful beaches not far from the capital (Photo: Zakhar Mar/Shutterstock)

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