Near Rome, this little-known national park hides 25 km of wild dunes that seem to come straight out of a myth

South of Rome, the Circeo National Park packs the full variety of the Tyrrhenian coastline into 8,500 hectares: wild dunes stretching for 25 km, lowland forest, lakes filled with pink flamingos, and a legendary headland. All of it in Lazio, tucked between two motorway exits.

The silhouette of Monte Circeo rises above the Tyrrhenian Sea like a forgotten island skimming the horizon — which, in fact, it once was, back when the Mediterranean stood higher. It is here, in this spellbinding landscape where nature reigns supreme, that Ulysses is said to have stopped on his journey, where his companions were turned into swine, and where he spent a year beside the enchantress Circe. In Italy, mythology is never far away.

Sand almost entirely to yourself

Beyond the legend, the park begins with 25 km of dunes, some reaching heights of 27 metres. On the seaward side grow sea daffodils and sea holly; on the lagoon side, great juniper trees, twisted into improbable arches by decades of tramontane winds, hold the sand in place.

In summer, a handful of savvy holidaymakers come here to swim. In spring, the dunes turn yellow and pink as wild legumes bloom, and you can walk for miles before spotting another towel.

Ulysses’ headland

From the heights of Monte Circeo, the Pontine Islands float on the horizon like the backdrop to a sword-and-sandal epic. The headland divides the landscape into two distinct faces: dense holm oak forest to the north, and dry Mediterranean scrub with sheer cliffs to the south, where peregrine falcons nest.

The trails weaving across the massif range from the almost flat coastal path to Torre Fico to the loop leading up to Picco di Circe. The sort of climb that leaves your calves aching a little, but your heart full.

Even the Neanderthals had good taste

Sixty thousand years ago, the headland was already attracting a different kind of visitor. In 2021, excavations in Guattari Cave uncovered the remains of eleven Neanderthals at this single site, making it one of the richest deposits in the world from this period.

At the summit of the promontory, the cyclopean walls of the San Felice Circeo acropolis still watch over the coastline: enormous pre-Roman stone blocks fitted together with astonishing precision, like a forgotten fortress above the sea.

The forest the marshes almost swallowed

Behind the dunes lies the Selva di Circe, a lowland forest recalling the vast woodland that once covered the Pontine Marshes before they were drained. In the 'Piscine', marshy clearings fed by groundwater, Hermann’s tortoises and porcupines live among dark waters that reflect sky and trees with dreamlike depth.

On the coastal lakes, flamingos linger alongside dozens of migratory bird species, their pink and white silhouettes standing out against the forest’s deep green.

Zannone, the island at the edge of the park

From the Pontine archipelago, it takes about an hour to reach Zannone, a wild island lovingly tended by just a handful of forest rangers. On clear days, fishermen approach Punta del Varo, leap onto the rocks, and the sound of the engine immediately disappears into the surrounding silence.

A footpath climbs through the maquis towards an abandoned Benedictine monastery, deserted since the Saracen raids and now guarded only by Sardinian mouflons. Venture further in, and the luckiest visitors may catch sight of the white villa of the Marquis Casati Stampa, now in ruins but still steeped in the memory of the highly private parties once held there in the 1960s. The legend lives on.

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