Away from the Crowds and into Local Italy

Away from the crowds and into local Italy 🚗☀️ Today we arrived in Civitavecchia, a port town around 80 kilometres northwest of Rome and one of Italy’s largest cruise ports. Many cruise passengers take an excursion to Rome from here, but we have visited the Italian capital before, so this time we wanted to experience something different. Our aim for the day was to get away from the crowds and see a little of the Italy where local people live their everyday lives. We therefore rented a car directly at the cruise port. It is rather more expensive than renting at an airport, but extremely convenient. The rental office was only a few metres from where the free shuttle bus from the ship dropped us off. DKK 500 for a full day in a white Jeep Renegade. It was lovely to have the freedom to decide for ourselves where to go again. 😎 Among other places, we visited the small medieval town of Tolfa, almost 500 metres up in the mountains. It has narrow streets, old stone houses and the ruins of a castle at the very top, with wonderful views over the surrounding countryside. There were virtually no tourists, and we received a few curious looks from the locals. We also visited the coastal towns of Santa Marinella and Santa Severa, where the impressive medieval Castello di Santa Severa stands right beside the Mediterranean. It was delightful to cruise along the small, winding mountain roads again, passing olive groves, small farms and villages. The funny thing was that throughout the entire day we did not meet a single one of the many thousands of other cruise passengers—not even on the coast. We have experienced many of Italy’s major attractions by now, but a visit does not always have to be about the most famous places. Sometimes it is equally enjoyable simply to have a car and explore on your own. 🇮🇹☀️