Lazio · Latina
Sabaudia
A rationalist city built in 253 days on drained Pontine marshland, founded 15 April 1934 between Lago di Paola and the Tyrrhenian dunes.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Sabaudia is on our list
It holds Bandiera Blu, Spighe Verdi and Città del Vino.
Subscribe and you get Sabaudia's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 1 h 54 min from Rome
- Population
- 19,322
- J14°
- F15°
- M15°
- A17°
- M22°
- J26°
- J30°
- A30°
- S26°
- O22°
- N18°
- D15°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 27° and coldest in February at 15°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Sabaudia stands on what was malarial swamp until the 1930s. Work began on 5 August 1933, the town was inaugurated on 15 April 1934, and the whole construction took 253 days. It was the second of the new Pontine towns built on land drained under Mussolini and was named for the Savoy dynasty then on the throne.
Four architects, Gino Cancellotti, Eugenio Montuori, Luigi Piccinato and Alfredo Scalpelli, won the competition with a plan that placed the civic center on an axis between the dunes and Lago di Paola, the coastal lagoon also called Lago di Sabaudia. The Torre Civica, the post office and the Chiesa della SS. Annunziata stand around Piazza del Comune as one of the cleanest examples of Italian rationalism still in use. The Parco Nazionale del Circeo, which surrounds the town, protects the dune system, the lagoon, and the coastal forest behind Monte Circeo. Fifteen kilometers of open beach run south to San Felice, with a boardwalk along the dunes.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 1 h 38 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 2 h 33 min away.
By car from the center of Naples 2 h 37 min or Salerno 3 h 1 min.
Coming by train into Latina? Sabaudia is about 51 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Torre Civica
Civic tower at the center of Piazza del Comune, the rationalist landmark visible from across the lagoon and the dunes.
Piazza del Comune
Central square of the 1934 plan, lined by the Palazzo del Comune, the post office and the Chiesa della SS. Annunziata.
Lago di Paola
Coastal lagoon of about 3.9 square kilometers, separated from the sea by the Sabaudia dunes and protected within the national park.
Dune di Sabaudia
Fifteen-kilometer dune strip between the lagoon and the Tyrrhenian, with a boardwalk and free beach access.
Parco Nazionale del Circeo
National park established in 1934, covering dunes, lagoon, the coastal forest of the Selva di Circe and the Monte Circeo promontory.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
BucciaTrattoria
Buccia has three Gambero Rosso prawns and a Slow Food snail.
Seguire Le BottiAgriturismo
Seguire Le Botti carries a Gambero Rosso listing.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Sabaudia meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 19,322 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Latina, a city of 127,796, is 43 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
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 · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 19,322, down 1.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Latina, 43 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Terracina, 14 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,700 to €1,950 per m² to buy, €6.90 to €8.90 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 68% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Rome Ciampino airport (CIA), 1 h 30 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 54 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
12% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from India, Romania and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. 56 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United Kingdom and France. There are 203 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 36% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Latina province ranks 83rd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Terracina, 14 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Latina, 22 km away. The nearest IB school is Ambrit International School, 78 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Children's Castle International, 57 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €15,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Lazio spends about €2,270 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €647 a year for water, on the Lazio average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone C, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 15 to March 31, up to 10 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 1% in a high or medium one. Under 1% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
RATIONALIST 1934
Founded 15 April 1934 and built in 253 days, the cleanest example of Italian rationalist urban planning still in use as a working town.
DUNE COAST
Fifteen kilometers of unbroken Tyrrhenian dunes between Sabaudia and San Felice Circeo, protected within the national park.
CIRCEO PARK
Headquarters of the Parco Nazionale del Circeo, one of Italy's oldest national parks, founded the same year as the town.
Common questions
- What is Sabaudia known for?
- Sabaudia is a rationalist city built in 253 days on drained Pontine marshland, founded 15 April 1934 between Lago di Paola and the Tyrrhenian dunes.
- Where is Sabaudia?
- Sabaudia is a comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, at 17 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Sabaudia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rome Ciampino (CIA), about 1 h 30 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Naples to Sabaudia?
- About 2 h 37 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Sabaudia?
- Best in May–Sep. August is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Sabaudia?
- Cerveteri, San Felice Circeo and Orbetello.
- How many people live in Sabaudia?
- 19,322 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Sabaudia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Sabaudia is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Latina, is 43 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Terracina, 14 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 68% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 17 m
- Population: 19,322
- Surface area: 145.37 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.
The ranked lists
Lists Sabaudia appears in
Similar
Towns like Sabaudia
What all six share with Sabaudia: on the Tyrrhenian coast · over 10,000 people · near sea level
The letter
Read a sample letter
Chioggia | Everyone is wrong about this town
It’s not an alternative to Venice
Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.