Lazio · Latina
Sperlonga
A whitewashed cliff town halfway between Rome and Naples, built above the sea grotto where Tiberius staged the Odyssey in marble.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Sperlonga is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Cittaslow and Bandiera Blu.
Subscribe and you get Sperlonga's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 1 h 57 min from Naples
- Population
- 3,009
- J13°
- F14°
- M15°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S26°
- O22°
- N18°
- D14°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in July at 28° 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
Sperlonga sits on a rocky spur on the Tyrrhenian coast, halfway between Rome and Naples. A Republican-era villa at the base of the town was inherited by Tiberius, who reigned from 14 to 37 AD and made the place his retreat. Road crews building the coastal route between Terracina and Gaeta broke into its sea grotto in 1957, exposing the fragments now reassembled in the villa's museum: Odysseus blinding Polyphemus, the rape of the Palladium, Scylla devouring sailors.
The town proper stands above, pedestrianized, a maze of stone houses, arches and stair-streets that drop down to the shore on either side of a cliff promontory. The whitewash covering those walls is not decorative but a centuries-old defense against malaria and sun. Buffalo mozzarella country starts an hour south, and Sperlonga is a town built literally on top of the emperor's private theater, with the modern coast road tracing the same line that cut it open.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 1 h 53 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 12 min away.
By car from the center of Naples 1 h 57 min or Salerno 2 h 22 min.
Coming by train into Latina? Sperlonga is about 1 h 8 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Naples airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Villa di Tiberio e Grotta
Imperial seaside villa with a natural grotto staged as a banqueting hall, where the marble Odyssey groups were unearthed in 1957.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale
On-site museum displaying the reconstructed Sperlonga sculptures, including Odysseus blinding Polyphemus and the Scylla group.
Centro storico
Pedestrian-only whitewashed old town on Monte San Magno, a maze of arches, stair-streets and lime-washed stone houses.
Spiaggia di Levante e Ponente
Two sand beaches flanking the headland, both holders of the Bandiera Blu, with the Torre Truglia jutting between them.
Torre Truglia
Sixteenth-century anti-corsair watchtower on the cliff promontory, rebuilt after Barbarossa's raid of 1534.
Living here
Could you live here?
Sperlonga is at the end of the road.
- A village of 3,009. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Fondi, is 16 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Latina, a city of 127,796, is 1 h 7 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
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 3,009, down 10.8% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Latina, 1 h 7 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Fondi, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €2,200 to €3,300 per m² to buy, €9.60 to €14.20 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 82% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 1 h 53 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 2 h 10 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from India, Romania and Ukraine, against 9% across Italy. There are 329 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 59% 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 Fondi, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Latina, 52 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 105 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Teodoro Monticelli International School, 63 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, 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. 8% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 3% 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
VILLA OF TIBERIUS
Roman imperial villa whose sea grotto held the Odyssey marbles, found in 1957 during construction of the coastal road.
THE WHITE TOWN
Lime-washed houses stacked on Monte San Magno, pedestrian-only centro storico, two Bandiera Blu beaches at its feet.
ODYSSEY SCULPTURES
Seven thousand marble fragments reassembled into four monumental groups, displayed in the Museo Archeologico on the villa grounds.
PROTECTED PRODUCTS
The commune lies inside the Oliva di Gaeta DOP and Sedano Bianco di Sperlonga IGP production zones.
Common questions
- What is Sperlonga known for?
- Sperlonga is a whitewashed cliff town halfway between Rome and Naples, built above the sea grotto where Tiberius staged the Odyssey in marble.
- Where is Sperlonga?
- Sperlonga is a comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, at 55 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Sperlonga?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 1 h 53 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Naples to Sperlonga?
- About 1 h 57 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Sperlonga?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Sperlonga?
- Vietri sul Mare, Scilla and Forte dei Marmi.
- How many people live in Sperlonga?
- 3,009 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Sperlonga a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Sperlonga is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Fondi, is 16 min away. The nearest city, Latina, is 1 h 7 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Fondi, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 82% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 55 m
- Population: 3,009
- Surface area: 19.49 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 Sperlonga appears in
- The best beach towns inside a nature park in LazioLazioclean beachinside a park6 towns · smallest 3,009 residents
- The best beach towns in the province of LatinaLatina provinceclean beach7 towns · smallest 3,009 residents
- The best small towns inside a nature park in LazioLazioinside a parksmall8 towns · smallest 217 residents
Similar
Towns like Sperlonga
What all six share with Sperlonga: on the Tyrrhenian coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · near sea level
The letter
Sperlonga is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Sperlonga comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 138 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.