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00 Anguillara Sabazia
Stemma di Anguillara Sabazia

Lazio · Roma

Anguillara Sabazia

A medieval cape town jutting into Lake Bracciano, twenty-five kilometers from Rome, built above a 5700 BC Neolithic lakeshore village.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
50 min from Rome
By train
Station in the comune
Population
19,091

Known for

  • LA MARMOTTA

    Underwater Neolithic village dated to 5700 BC, one of the oldest preserved lakeshore settlements in Europe, with wooden canoes and grain stores.

  • LAKE BRACCIANO

    One of three communes on the volcanic crater lake; Anguillara holds the southern shore and is the closest of the three to Rome.

  • THE CAPE

    Small volcanic promontory pushed into the lake, with the medieval town built end-to-end across it from lakefront to upper church.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J12°
  • F14°
  • M15°
  • A18°
  • M23°
  • J28°
  • J32°
  • A32°
  • S26°
  • O22°
  • N17°
  • D13°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Biagio di Sebaste, 3 February

Why come

Anguillara Sabazia sits on a small volcanic cape that pushes into Lake Bracciano from the southern shore, twenty-five kilometers northwest of Rome. The medieval town climbs from the lake on stepped streets to the Porta Maggiore and the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta at the top. The setting is older than the medieval town: La Marmotta, a few hundred meters offshore from the cape, is one of the oldest underwater archaeological sites in Europe, an Early Neolithic lakeshore village dated to 5700 BC, with preserved wooden canoes and grain stores in the lakebed mud.

The Romans came later: Rutilia Polla, a Roman patrician, owned a villa on the cape in the first century BC, and the modern town name carries the surname of the medieval Anguillara family who took the place after the empire. Anguillara is one of three communes on Lake Bracciano with Bracciano and Trevignano, and it is the closest to Rome of the three.

Our guide

Tuscia, Lazio

Our nearest guide, 24 km away

Tuscia: the towns, when to go, how to get there

The land Rome took twice. 16 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.

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Anguillara Sabazia in our articles

How to get there

From Rome (FCO), about 1h 11m by car.

Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 3 hours away.

By car from the centre of Perugia 2h 20m or Pescara 2h 48m.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Rome?

Coming by train into Roma Termini? Anguillara Sabazia is about 52 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Rome airport.

Anguillara Sabazia, photo 1
Anguillara Sabazia, photo 2

What to see

  • Porta Maggiore e centro storico

    Medieval gate and stepped town climbing from the lakefront on the volcanic cape, with stone streets converging on the upper piazza.

  • Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta

    Main church at the top of the cape, rebuilt in the sixteenth century on earlier foundations, with views over the lake from the parvis.

  • Lungolago e cape

    Lakefront promenade and small beaches along the cape, with views east to Trevignano and west to Bracciano across the volcanic basin.

  • La Marmotta (underwater)

    Submerged Early Neolithic lakeshore village dated to 5700 BC, a few hundred meters offshore, with wooden canoes and grain preserved in the mud.

  • Lago di Martignano

    Smaller crater lake two kilometers north, reserved for swimming and rowing, accessible from Anguillara on foot or by car.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Anguillara Sabazia fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Living here

  • Population 19,091, up 0.2% since 2015
  • In-betweeni
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest public hospital Bracciano, 9 km as the crow flies
  • Full fibre reaches 86% of homes
  • Primary school in the comune
  • Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
  • Nearest airport Rome, 1 h 11 min drive
  • Regional capital Roma, 50 min drive

Could you live here?

Anguillara Sabazia meets 3 of our 3 rules for a small town.

  • 19,091 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
  • Fiumicino, a city of 81,426, is 37 minutes by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
  • A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the centre.

The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City. The rest of the series, and the best towns to move to, arrive in the Sunday letter.

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Common questions

What is Anguillara Sabazia known for?
Anguillara Sabazia is a medieval cape town jutting into Lake Bracciano, twenty-five kilometers from Rome, built above a 5700 BC Neolithic lakeshore village.
Where is Anguillara Sabazia?
Anguillara Sabazia is a comune in the province of Roma, in Lazio, at 195 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Anguillara Sabazia?
Rome (FCO), about 1h 11m by car.
Can you get to Anguillara Sabazia without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Perugia to Anguillara Sabazia?
About 2h 20m by car.
When is the best time to visit Anguillara Sabazia?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Anguillara Sabazia?
Yes. Sagra delle Pizzòle and Festa di Settembre. August is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Anguillara Sabazia?
Lonato del Garda, Peschiera del Garda and Riva del Garda.
How many people live in Anguillara Sabazia?
19,091 at the 2023 count.
Is Anguillara Sabazia a good place to live?
By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Anguillara Sabazia is a small town that meets 3 of our 3 rules. The nearest city, Fiumicino, is 37 minutes away by car. The nearest public hospital is in Bracciano, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 86% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

  • Elevation: 195 m
  • Population: 19,091
  • Surface area: 75.24 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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