Grazia Hotel

Take Time To Absorb The Mediterranean Atmosphere

by NonnaLou

Wandering through the meandering streets of "Old Sperlonga" and sitting in the Piazza della Republica sipping a cappucino and just watching the world go by. We visited the Food Festival "Sapore di Mare", which is held each year towards the beginning of June.

We were able to sample many of the truely mouth watering traditional fish dishes.

A view from Tiberius' s cave toward his villa.

by unravelau

Sperlonga is a very unusual place -- from the old medieval section of town to the newer beachy suburbs (in a sense),-- the Truglia monument.................then down the street a bit, a museum dedicated to the contents of the Tiberius's cave,-- his villa and then indeed the cave and fish tanks..................amazing. I loved that there was just so much to see but also that if I wanted to be quiet there was enough space to do this. ..............it really is a lovely place even if I did fall flat on my face the second time I was there.

FREE CLIMBING NEAR SPERLONGA

by NonnaLou

The rocky coastline and formidable limestone cliffs near Sperlonga are extremely popular with Rock Climbers, particularly those passionate about the sport of FREE CLIMBING. Free Climbers use no artificial aids to make upwards progress.

Walk Along The Ancient Appian Way

by NonnaLou

The infamous highway, the Via Appia , is a testament to the remarkable organisational and engineering ability of the Romans. Construction of this, the first and most famous of the ancient Roman roads, was commenced in 312 AD by the Appius Claudius Caecus. It was called the "Queen of Roads" (Regina Viarum) and was to be the main means of communication between Rome to the south, to Capua, and was later extended down to Brindisi, with a total length of more than 563 km (350 miles).

Just outside Itri (4.5 km towards Fondi) original sections of this road have been unearthed to create a walkway through the mountains. It was paved with smoothly fitting blocks of hard wearing lava.

More Roman remains can be found in Fondi, Formia and Minturno.

For more information visit my Itri, Formia and Minturno pages at Virtual Tourist

or my personal website at: http://trecancelle.shapcott-family.com

Sperlonga, a place to get in touch with yourself

by unravelau

"My most favourite spot in Lazio"

On the last visit to Sperlonga in 2001, I went specifically to get up close and personal with a monument called Truglia. I had seen it from afar down the road a bit, while I was investigating Tiberius' s cave. The 'on the mountain' part of the township seemed to have the access to this unique structure (from a distance that is). Sperlonga township has this intricate network of laneways nooks and crannies that seem to be leading you in the right direction but then lead you up the garden path and you find yourself looking at something else of interest. Anyway eventually a route to the monument was found but I couldn't find out anything about it. Plenty of photo's later, deciding on yet another cuppa, I got ahead of myself and fell flat on my face. Was it Sperlonga's way of saying I have got you and now you cant get away. Well spiritually that is the case.

To see more of my Sperlonga tips and photos visit also my Lazio page.

"The Scotch Terrier"

When I first saw the Truglia (in real life from Tiberius's cave), I thought that it looked like a monument to a dog, more precisely, a Scotch Terrier. Still not having much information about it, and finding some pamphlets outside, suggested to me that it might be some type of exhibition area for art, and/or a place to hold functions. When you are up close though while it appears really large on the outside it doesn't look as if it would hold many people inside. If anyone knows about it, I would really like to know more............it wasn't open when I was there.

"Looking out over the Mediterranean"

This taken from near the top of the pathway to the upper township of Sperlonga.

A handy link of the official Sperlonga site:-

http://www.comune.sperlonga.lt.it/