42.371° N, 14.392° E
Complete guide
Spiaggia dei Ripari di Giobbe: beach guide
What the beach is like
The Spiaggia dei Ripari di Giobbe lies in the municipality of Ortona, in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo, on the Adriatic Sea. Ripari di Giobbe is also the name of a hamlet of Ortona with 30 inhabitants, set on a headland that drops sheer to the sea and is about 60 metres high. At the foot of the headland, below the hamlet, there are three beaches. The one called Ripari di Giobbe is the second, where there is a holiday village, and according to Wikipedia it is the best known of the three.
According to Wikipedia, the beach is crescent-shaped, made of small pebbles and enclosed between two jagged cliffs that drop sheer to the sea. In QualeSpiaggia data, derived from OpenStreetMap, the beach type is instead given as rocks. One of the other two beaches is not easy to reach by land. The other is a small tongue of pebbles about fifteen metres long. Beyond it runs the route of the old railway, at the foot of which large boulders form a long artificial breakwater.
The beach is part of the stretch of the Abruzzo coast known as the costa dei Trabocchi. The area has the typical Mediterranean scrub ecosystem and is crossed by the old route of the Adriatic railway line. In 2026 the Ripari di Giobbe stretch appears in the list of Blue Flag (Bandiera Blu) beaches, compiled by the FEE, for the municipality of Ortona.
Getting there
The beach lies 2.6 km as the crow flies north of Ortona. The address of the beach, useful for satnav users, is Contrada Ripari di Giobbe, 66026. The Italia.it portal specifies that the beach is reached by a wooden staircase that descends 65 metres down the cliff, and that the reserve area can only be reached on foot. It is advisable to bring enough water and comfortable shoes.
The town of Ortona has an exit on the A14 Adriatic motorway and a station on the Adriatic railway line, useful for those arriving by car or train. Those arriving by sea will find in Ortona a large commercial port with facilities for pleasure boats. Those travelling by air can use Pescara airport.
When to go
As for the wind, the beach faces north-east. With the north wind (tramontana), the north-easterly (grecale) and the easterly (levante), the wind blows in from the sea and the beach is exposed to waves and rough water. With the southerly (ostro), the south-westerly (libeccio) and the westerly (ponente), the wind blows from the land and the beach is sheltered, with calmer water close to shore. The sirocco (scirocco) and the mistral (maestrale) blow across the shoreline instead. These are indications derived from the orientation of the coast, not weather forecasts.
Seabed and sea
In the 2025 season the European Environment Agency rated the bathing water quality of this stretch as excellent. Italia.it describes the water as having green and turquoise reflections.
Rules and protected areas
In 2007 the Ripari di Giobbe beach was declared a protected area, as a reserve of the Abruzzo Region: this is the Ripari di Giobbe regional nature reserve. The whole Ripari di Giobbe area was affected by a landslide that began in 2005, which prevented access until 2013. Erosion, which affects the whole surrounding area, caused landslips from 1954 to 1999 because of the sandstone nature of the rocks. It is advisable not to linger beneath the rock faces and not to trample the vegetation.
Nearby
Along the coast, the Spiaggia di Punta Ferruccio lies 1.0 km as the crow flies to the north-west, while the Spiaggia della Ritorna is 1.9 km as the crow flies to the south-east. Further south-east, 3.5 km as the crow flies from the Ripari beach, is Lido Saraceni, the other stretch of Ortona on the 2026 Blue Flag list. According to Italia.it, Ortona's main beaches include Lido Riccio, Punta Ferruccio, Lido Saraceni and Punta dell'Acquabella, which takes its name from the clarity of its waters. The Spiaggia di Punta Acquabella, mentioned above, lies 5.2 km as the crow flies to the south-east.
Ortona's oldest district, Terravecchia, is of Roman origin and is home to the Aragonese castle overhanging the sea, the Cathedral of San Tommaso Apostolo and Palazzo Farnese. Palazzo Farnese, in particular, was commissioned by Margherita d'Austria in the second half of the sixteenth century. According to Wikivoyage, Ortona stands on a cliff of the Abruzzo Adriatic coast, on the Costa dei trabocchi, and has the largest port in the region. Since 6 September 1258 the town's cathedral has held the relics of San Tommaso Apostolo. The battle of Ortona, fought between 21 and 28 December 1943 between Germans and Canadians, destroyed much of the town centre: the destruction of the town is documented in the museum devoted to the battle. Along the costa dei Trabocchi, which runs from Vasto to Ortona, about 30 trabocchi remain: wooden structures suspended over the water and connected to the mainland by a footbridge. The town of San Vito Chietino lies 9.4 km as the crow flies south-east of the beach. From the Promontorio Dannunziano a path leads down towards the sea to the Turchino trabocco.
Sources
- QualeSpiaggia — open data spiagge (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikipedia (it) — Ripari di Giobbe
- OpenStreetMap
- FEE Italia — Bandiera Blu 2026, elenco spiagge
- Le Spiagge | Città di Ortona
- Beaches in Abruzzo: Costa dei Trabocchi - Italia.it
- Wikivoyage (it) — Ortona
- EEA — Bathing water quality 2025 (IT013069058003)
- Ortona - Italia.it
- Wikipedia (it) — Ortona
- Costa dei Trabocchi - Italia.it