Italy Through the Rear-View Mirror by Susan J. Bocock

Author:Susan J. Bocock [Bocock, Susan J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Published: 2021-04-29T07:46:31+00:00

Chapter 12

La Spiaggia – The Beach

You may have the universe if I may have Italy.

—Giuseppe Verdi

With such an extensive coastline, Italy has more than its fair share of beaches. My understanding is that you are never more than a two-hour drive from a beach in Italy. To a land-locked Canadian, this seems a luxury. And Italians do love their beaches. They also have their beach culture down to a fine art. Like their appreciation for food and fashion, it’s in their blood.

Although beachgoing may come naturally to Italians, over the years I’ve discovered a few tricks of the trade that have been helpful for us rookies. For starters, you need to know what beach to go to and when. Like many of us, Italians tend to be creatures of habit and get attached to their favourite location, often reserving their spot at a private beach club for the season. Some places are great for morning walks but get windy in the afternoon—hence the kite surfers we saw, rather than sunbathers, one afternoon on a breezy walk. While some beaches require a steep walk down a rocky path, usually there’s a reason people make the effort. Other than by boat, this is the only access to some of Sardinia’s most spectacular beaches. There are also lots of rocky beaches, in which case you look for the smoothest one to claim as your ‘beach’ for the day.

One of my first experiences with a rock beach was on Ponza, the largest of the Pontine Islands, formed from the remains of an extinct volcano. To get there, we boarded a high-speed boat in Terracina (Lazio), and after arriving in Porto Ponza we hopped on a local bus for a short ride north. Here we descended to the emerald-green waters of Piscine Naturali, a beach area named for its natural swimming pools. The rocks were surprisingly smooth, eroded by years of wind and lapping tides. But for someone more accustomed to sandy beaches, lying on the rocks did take some getting used to, as did the lack of elbow room—to be expected during the peak of summer at one of the island’s top attractions. That said, we managed to find space to lay our towels and niches in the rocks to balance our umbrellas and enjoyed a lovely afternoon.

Most of my lessons in Italian beach culture are thanks to Joe and Fil, and some of my favourite beach memories are times spent with them. Umbrellas and beach chairs loaded in the trunk of their car, we’d pack sandwiches and fruit for lunch, maybe some biscotti, and lots of water, slip on our beach wear, stop at a nearby shop for Joe’s newspaper, and we were off. Where you find long expanses of wide sandy beach, you’re likely to find most of it covered by the ombrelloni and lettini (large umbrellas and sun loungers) of private beach clubs. If you don’t want to pay beach club prices, look for a slice of sand with mismatched umbrellas. This is where we peasants go.

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