Sabaudia - a place Fellini partied, but Mussolini built

a scandalous secret an hour or so south of Rome, where I vacationed as a child (food recs also included)

Quanto abbiamo riso, noi intellettuali, sull’architettura del regime, sulle città come Sabaudia. Eppure adesso, guardando questa città, proviamo una sensazione assolutamente inaspettata.

How much we intellectuals laughed about the Regime’s architecture, in a city like Sabaudia. Yet now, observing this city, we meet an absolutely unexpected sensation.

Pier Paolo Pasolini on Sabaudia

Mussolini built it, Anita Eckberg had a house there, and Italian soccer players loved it for August vacation. Sabaudia is a bit of an enigma - a funny place where Romans and Neapolitans converge to escape the heat of their cities. Some call it fancy, some say it’s too Fascist (the architecture, not the people), but Sabaudia is a special place - whether for a beach day trip from Rome or to learn about Italy’s chaotic history while getting a good tan and plate of gnocchetti.

Sabaudia’s lungomare with a stunning view of Monte Circeo

I started going to Sabaudia as a child, around maybe 2 or 3 years old. My mom discovered it in a book on small Italian BnBs (you know during the pre-historic, pre-Tripadvisor, and IG times). ‘Where the Roman intelligentsia go’ the book said. Enough to sell my mom, and Sabaudia’s vicinity to family was enough to sell my dad.

Sabaudia has it all - the seaside, a tranquil lake dividing its lungomare - a sprawling sandy beach meeting the calm and glimmering Tyhrennian sea - and its lively town center, with great food, gelato, shops…the summer works.

I knew it was August when I saw Sabaudia’s campanile in the distance. The bell tower was as simple as my love for Sabaudia - it was plain and tall (like an awkward teenage me.) No fancy cupola or terracotta. Seeing this tower in the distance of lush Mediterranean pines told me it was summer in Italy, and I was about to get myself a big ole plate of gnocchetti al pomodoro.

This bell tower was also a symbol of Italy’s Fascist history.

---

QUICK LITTLE LOVE NOTE TO GNOCCHETTI

In Lazio, gnocchetti are where it’s at.