Italy Trip Sept 2025 - Part 5 Sperlonga, Lazio and Vesuvius, Campania

We had a night at Sperlonga, about halfway between Rome and Naples, in a campsite right beside the beach. It was a lovely beach with plenty of public area available for once.  We walked all the way along the beach up to the castle thing you can see in the distance, me paddling all the way. Bliss! I was thinking I could be tempted to have a dip here, but I hate waves - something that all the Italian coastline seemed to have. In Mediterranean France the sea is much calmer.

This is the modern part of the town on the other side of the hill where the old town was perched. The next day we walked here via the beach again - a lot preferable to walking up the steep hill and down again! We had come here in search of the market, but it was hard to find. After asking several shopkeepers, we eventually did find it - but there was very little to it and hardly anyone there.  And that was our only experience of an Italian market!

Some pretty fishing boats in a marina on the way back to the campsite, contrasting with the modern boats.

Then it was time to drive further south to beyond Naples to the Roman sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii. This is a photo taken from Herculaneum of Vesuvius, the volcano which erupted in AD79 which buried both towns, killing an estimated 30,000 people. It last erupted in 1944, destroying some villages.

We booked a coach trip up to Vesuvius which took us from the station at Ercolano (Herculaneum) up to the parking zone on the mountain - the horizontal bit of road in the green area you can see below. The rest you had to walk.

It was a shame that it was so hazy (smoggy?) over Naples.

The path up felt like it went on forever! It actually takes about 40 minutes but it's all steep uphill.

After what seemed like an eternity we reached the edge of the crater. There are actually a few wooden hut tourist shops up here! I was able to get a stamp on that postcard above that I bought which proves that I have reached the crater (aside from my photos, of course 😀). It's a bit disappointing that the centre of the crater is filled in. It would be much more fun to be looking down into the bowels of the earth!

It doesn't show up very well here but on the right hand side just beneath the top there is some smoke coming out of the rocks!! Vesuvius is still alive.... 😱

There were some info panels talking about the bird life in the park - not that we noticed any, but it is a National Park and obviously there is all the area of the sides of the mountain, not just the crater area. They mentioned bee hotels for solitary bees, and monitoring of the Peregrine Falcon. Bird species are increasing since the area was designated a National Park and the mountain is a point of reference and a stopping off point for migratory birds which have crossed the sea. The park hosts about 150 species of birds, whether migratory, wintering, nesting or sedentary.

It was this trip in the bus where we think that Keith caught a cold/covid which I later got (and I'm absolutely sure it was covid)  - the downside to enclosed spaces with lots of people.

A few notes about Italy in general - the traffic was awful in the built up areas, so different from travelling around France and Spain in September.

We didn't go into Naples city but skirted the outskirts. What I couldn't get over was the amount of rubbish/trash everywhere by the sides of the roads. Wherever there was a layby was filled with sacks of rubbish, and general rubbish was just blowing around the sides of the roads. Totally shocking. Apparently this has been going on for years. 😠

And it was still green everywhere even this far south!

Italy Trip Sept 2025 - Part 4 Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, Lazio

We only visited three Roman sites - but they were all spectacular compared to most that we have seen elsewhere. Most ancient sites have just the lower walls and foundations left, which show you only the outlines of buildings. The places we visited in Italy had whole walls, and some even had ceilings/roofs! Not bad for something 2,000 years old.

Hadrian's Villa, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a large villa complex built between 118 and 138AD for the Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian was a well traveled man and asked for the many places that most impressed him to be reproduced inside. The complex contains baths, nymphaea, pavilions, gardens and residential structures representing the provinces conquered by the Roman Empire.

It always helps seeing a model like below to get a better feel for an archaeological site, although I don't know what a lot of the places in my photos are of now!

This wall is immense; I was astounded to see such a high wall still standing. It is a part of the 'Pecile' which you can see on the model above as the large rectangular shaped area with an open centre on the right. On the other side of this wall would have been a fish pond, like in the photo. This area had a covered roof and columns and was designed for the Emperor and his guests to take their daily strolls, known as ambulatio.

No idea what the buildings are but the whole area was nicely landscaped.

Below, either end of a grassy area beyond the Pecile. The bottom picture is of the Vestibule and above and below show a paved rectangular shaped roadway excavated in 2000 which looks like it is grassing over. This was the main entrance for guests going to the Canopus, where summer banquets were held.

The Small Baths - there were two bathhouses in this complex, this and the Large Baths.

Two floor tiles. There was no explanation as to why there were just two tiles sitting there, and if more were found, and where they might be now (a museum in Rome probably). They are examples of inlay work called Opus Sectile which was complex and very expensive, so generally limited to imperial properties.

Yet more buildings - wish I could tell you what they were but it was such a huge site and only the most obvious places could be figured out from the plan that we had of the site. And even if I had known six months ago, I can't remember now!

This was the Large Baths.

A Hooded Crow (Corvus corone cornix). I remember seeing these birds when we were in Italy decades ago and haven't seen them anywhere else. They are found in eastern and south eastern Europe, the Middle East, Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland. Most of western Europe has the all black Carrion Crow.

The Canopus. At the end of this pool is the summer dining room, known as the Triclinium, where the Emperor would host elaborate banquets.

I think these buildings are around the Palace area.

The Hall with Doric Pillars - all that is left of it.

There was still some excavating going on, and below, some more lovely examples of Opus Sectile inlay flooring.

Common Wall or Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica).

The Teatro Maritimi. This wasn't a theatre but a villa within a villa. The Emperor could 'escape' to the island villa to be alone. It was laid out just like a typical villa with sleeping quarters, baths, a latrine and a central garden.

The Temple of Venus.

There was a Greek theatre down the hillside but it was closed for some reason that I can't recall.

Our journey from Levanto to Bolsena Lake and then to Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli.

I hope I haven't bored the pants off you with this Roman stuff 😁 - wait until we get to the more interesting photos of Pompeii - the frescoes are out of this world!

Italy Trip Sept 2025 - Part 3 Civita di Bagnoregio and Bolsena, Lazio

We drove south past Tuscany and into the region called Lazio, which is where Rome is located. We stopped for two nights at a campsite beside Bolsena Lake, which is an old volcanic lake and is the largest one in Europe. 

The following day we visited Civita di Bagnoregio, in an area known as the Badlands, where the rock is subject to erosion. The village, perched high up on an eroding rock, is known as the 'Dying Town', and has from 10 to 16 inhabitants, depending on what you read. However, tourism has brought this village back to life and the entry fee charged to visit goes to the villagers to help with maintaining the buildings and staving off the effects of erosion. I also read that Harry Styles had bought a house there, but for once, we found somewhere old that wasn't filmed in Game of Thrones! 😀

The village was founded by the Etruscans more than 2,500 years ago and originally had five city gates to enter, but only one remains now. An earthquake in 1695 caused the village to separate from the area which is now the neighbouring town of Bagnoregio, and many townsfolk moved out.

The only way to get to the village is by a pedestrian footbridge from the town of Bagnoregio, which was built in the 1960s. The only vehicles allowed are bicycles and motorbikes for the locals and a golf cart which they use when necessary. I do wonder how they move their furniture and possessions when they move in/out of the village!

It's quite a steep walk in places!

San Donato church, built in the Romaneque style, was remodelled in 1511 in the Renaissance style and a central portal added in 1524.

Inside the church - it is quite plain compared to many Italian churches we have visited.

There isn't a lot to this village but just wandering around looking at the medieval architecture is a delight, and there are a number of restaurants to cater to the tourists. We had a really good pizza for lunch - though not all pizzas in Italy are good, they are as hit and miss as in any other country!

You can really see the bare rocks here and why they call this area the 'Badlands'!

Bolsena

On our way back to the campsite we stopped at the top of the medieval town to have a look around the old section. The night before we had a meal out in the lower part of the town and the whole upper town is lit up and the castle looked amazing in the dark.

Monaldeschi Castle was built between the 11th and 14th centuries.

Looking down over the old roofs with the more modern part of the town further away towards the lake.

It's a shame the weather changed and the following day it rained! It would have been nice if the sun had been shining when we took our photos here, but overall we had only the one day with bad weather out of three weeks.

Having come from France where we had a really dry summer we were quite amazed by how green it was in Italy - it seemed like they had had no drought at all. Even after a normal summer I would have expected brownish grass still in September, but everywhere was really lush.