Sperlonga
A whitewashed village on a cliff, below which Tiberius dined in a sea cave full of sculpture.
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The old town is a knot of white lanes and stepped alleys on a promontory, unusually whitewashed for Lazio, built tight against Saracen raids. Below it Tiberius had a villa built around a natural sea cave, the spelunca that gave the village its name, with a dining platform on an island in the cave pool and vast marble groups from the Odyssey arranged around it, including Odysseus blinding the cyclops. The cave partly collapsed during a banquet and Tiberius was nearly killed. Thousands of marble fragments were found in 1957 and reassembled in the museum built beside the site.
What you actually see
- The white old town - stepped lanes on a cliff promontory.
- Tiberius' grotto - a sea cave fitted with a dining island.
- The Odyssey sculptures - reassembled marble groups in the site museum.
- The beaches - long sand either side of the headland.
When to go
May to September for swimming; July and August are very crowded and parking is difficult. The villa and museum close Mondays.
Honest expectations
The old town is stepped and closed to cars, with luggage carried up. Summer crowding is severe. The sculptures are fragmentary reconstructions, not intact works.
Nearby
Gaeta lies south; Circeo National Park is north.
What to pack for Sperlonga
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.