41.664° N, 12.404° E
Complete guide
Capocotta beach: beach guide
What the beach is like
Capocotta is a stretch of the Roman coast and of the Agro Romano. Today the name mainly refers to the beach of Capocotta, which covers about 45 hectares. According to Wikipedia, it is one of the best-preserved stretches of dunes in Italy. It is a dune beach of Mediterranean scrub. According to Wikipedia, the beach is set up as a free beach, with kiosks administered by Roma Capitale and leased to private operators. It is known for hosting the first authorised naturist oasis in Italy, opened in 2000. The beach is recognised by the international naturist movement and is a meeting point for Rome's LGBT community.
The place name is said to derive from an estate, formerly known as Capocorso, which emerged in the fifteenth century as the property of Camillo Capranica. In the seventeenth century the estate passed to the Borghese family. According to the Catasto annonario of 1803, the Capocotta estate covered about 760 hectares. At the beginning of the twentieth century it became private property of the House of Savoy, which intended to enlarge the Castelporziano estate with it. With the end of the monarchy, three quarters of the estate became the property of the heirs of Vittorio Emanuele III. The area was left abandoned and gained a bad reputation after the body of Wilma Montesi was found in 1953.
In 1965 the President of the Republic, Giuseppe Saragat, announced his intention to assign part of the beach of the Castelporziano estate to the city of Rome, so that it could be set up as a free beach. The so-called "eight gates" were opened in August 1965, but the part of the Capocotta estate lying between the last gate and Torvaianica remained private property. About 1900 small villas were planned on that section. The stretch, however, was already being used without permission and was known as "il buco" (the hole), because people got in through a hole in the fence. The building speculation alarmed several environmental associations, including WWF Italia. In 1985 the President of the Republic, Sandro Pertini, ordered the annexation of about 1000 hectares of the Capocotta estate to the presidential estate of Castelporziano. This annexation restored the historical unity of the ancient territory of Laurentum.
The name of the beach became known to the Italian public through a criminal case, the Montesi case. The affair is said to have inspired some scenes of Federico Fellini's film La dolce vita. The song Nuntereggae più (1978) by Rino Gaetano mentions the name of the beach. The film Il principe di Ostia Bronx by Raffaele Passerini, premiered in 2017, was shot almost entirely on the beach of Capocotta. In the seventies Pier Paolo Pasolini chose the beach as the setting for one of his "corsair" interviews.
Getting there
The Italian Wikipedia places the beach between kilometres 8 and 10 of the Via Litoranea (SP 601). The English version instead gives the stretch from km 7.6 to km 10.1 of road 601. Turismo Roma places the Capocotta complex between km 8 and km 10 of the Litoranea Ostia-Anzio. The point QualeSpiaggia uses to locate the beach falls within this stretch: its coordinates are a few tens of metres from those Turismo Roma gives for one of the Capocotta beach establishments. The Oasi Naturista di Capocotta lies 0.5 km as the crow flies south-east of this point. The Spiaggia comunale libera di Castelporziano, by contrast, is 2.2 km as the crow flies to the north-west. The coastal towns around Rome include Ostia, Torvaianica, Fregene, Anzio and Nettuno. Before setting off, it is worth checking how to reach your chosen access point to the beach.
When to go
According to Wikivoyage, in summer Romans flock to the many beach resorts along the low, flat coast of Lazio. According to QualeSpiaggia data, the shore faces south-west. With the north wind (tramontana), the north-east wind (grecale) and the east wind (levante), the wind blows from the land: the beach is sheltered and the sea close to shore tends to be calmer. With the south wind (ostro), the south-west wind (libeccio) and the west wind (ponente), the wind instead comes from the sea: the beach is exposed and waves can build up. The south-east wind (scirocco) and the mistral (maestrale) blow across the shoreline. These are indications based on the orientation of the coast, not weather forecasts.
Seabed and sea
The beach is sandy and faces the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the 2025 season the European Environment Agency (EEA) rated the bathing water quality at the monitoring point associated with the beach as excellent. Problems caused by human pressure add to those of erosion caused by sea storms. The storm of 2001 "ate" 50 metres of coastline and made the dunes collapse. After the one in 2008, in 2009 the Lazio Region allocated 24 million euros to deal with it. When the sea is rough, it is wise to stay within your depth.
Facilities and free beach
Over the years the beach, assigned to the city of Rome like the Castel Porziano beach, has been equipped with several privately run kiosks while remaining freely accessible. Turismo Roma lists 6 kiosks, including Zagaia, Mediterranea, Settimo Cielo, Oasi Naturista and Mecs Village. Among the services, the same page lists a restaurant, bar, toilets, rental of umbrellas, sunloungers and pedal boats, a beach volleyball court and parking for customers. According to Turismo Roma, the complex also includes the Oasi Naturista, with free entry. It is worth checking the kiosks' services in advance or bringing a beach umbrella and water.
Rules and protected areas
According to Wikipedia, because of its natural importance, in 1996 the beach was included in the Litorale Romano state nature reserve. Wikivoyage instead gives 1991 as the year in which the coast became a state nature reserve. Turismo Roma, on its page about the Castel Porziano beach, gives 1996 as the year the reserve was established by the Ministry of the Environment. The reserve includes areas of Roma Capitale and of the Comune di Fiumicino, which are its managing bodies. In January 2020 the Lazio Region announced the adoption, after more than 20 years of waiting, of the reserve's Management Plan and Regulations. The press release added that the Plan was to give the managing bodies a reference tool for managing their respective areas. At the request of the Unione Naturisti Italiani the reserve's supervisory commission asked the city of Rome and the State Forestry Corps for clarification about the failure to demolish illegal structures on state-owned land, ordered from 1999 onwards. Dunes are a fragile environment: it is best to walk on existing paths and not to take away sand or plants.
Nearby
The countryside further inland, corresponding to the territory of the old Casale Capocotta, is part of the Decima Malafede nature reserve and of the presidential estate of Castelporziano. These areas also have considerable natural value. According to Wikivoyage, the Litorale Romano reserve includes areas of great natural interest such as the Castel Fusano pine forest and the Capocotta dunes. There are also areas of archaeological interest, such as the ancient city of Ostia, the imperial ports and prehistoric settlements.
Sources
- Wikipedia (it) — Capocotta
- Wikipedia (en) — Capocotta
- Wikivoyage (it) — Roma
- EEA — Bathing water quality 2025 (IT012058091010)
- QualeSpiaggia — open data spiagge (CC BY 4.0)
- | Regione Lazio | AMBIENTE: OK A PIANO E REGOLAMENTO DELLA RISERVA NATURALE STATALE LITORALE ROMANO
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