![]() Later, on the beach, we discuss choices for the following days: a cycle hire shop does guided mountain bike excursions into the Monti della Tolfa, a few miles inland there’s a riding stable behind the castle and there are amazing views and wildlife at the Macchiatonda nature reserve a few kilometres south. We lounge with a picnic on scruffy grass overlooking the southern shore – the whole place is endearingly unmanicured. Mondays are the best day here: the castle is closed to day trippers, so hostel guests get the whole complex to themselves. The hostel claims to be extending a welcome to youth from across Europe, so a next step needs to be more signage in English – as useful for Swedes and Slovaks as monoglot Brits. The galleries are all well done – if you speak and read Italian. It has a beamed ceiling, TV, cute sofas and vending machines for coffee, snacks and drinks, as well as fridge and cooker.Īfter a cheap lunch in one of two friendly bistros just outside the castle walls (grilled aubergine and mozzarella roll €4), I’m keen to hit the beach, but first we check out the culture: a museum of the sea with lots of reconstructions of old ships – their holds packed with amphorae a gallery of classical terracotta painting – on vases, tiles, floors and a hands-on museum of mining and farming, presided over by genial retired chemist Giulio, born in the castle (in a wheelbarrow, he jokes) to kaolin miner parents. Hostellers sort their own breakfast, but get to do it in a surprisingly high-end communal kitchen that lies over a courtyard (past the remains of an early Christian church). So far so boutique hotel, except there’ll be no pastries and fresh fruit laid out on a veranda next morning. ![]() Private rooms have en suites and sea views A couple of potters plus jewellery and leatherware makers have opened shops in other old buildings, with more artisans to come. ![]() It is popular with families and school groups, pulling in 50,000 visitors in its first year. It was owned over the centuries by various noble Roman families and the Catholic church (it was a summer bolthole for medieval popes), but lay neglected from the late 1600s, apart from a period in 1943 when the German army used it.Īfter four years of repair and restoration, the complex opened as a visitor attraction in 2017, with three museums (combined ticket €8/€6), an 11th-century tower to climb, and lots of events and exhibitions. We soon see that it is more than just a castle it’s an entire, walled medieval village, with houses, workshops, courtyards, two churches and sea on three sides. In proper hostelling style, we arrive on foot, walking the 15 minutes from Santa Severa’s tiny station, a ride of under an hour (€4.40 one-way) from Rome’s Termini station.
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