Rome has always had a coast. An hour or so south of the capital, a string of seaside towns runs down the Lazio shore: the working ports of Anzio and Nettuno, the rationalist resort of Sabaudia, and the national-park promontory of San Felice Circeo. For a buyer searching for a home by the sea within reach of Rome, this arc covers the full range, from accessible value to genuine exclusivity, all within a comfortable drive of Fiumicino and central Rome. The further south you go, the harder the towns are to reach, and the more exclusive they become.
Anzio and Nettuno: the historic ports an hour from Rome
Anzio and Nettuno are twin port towns that sit side by side on the coast directly south of Rome, and they are the most accessible part of this shoreline. A direct Trenitalia train from Roma Termini reaches Anzio in about an hour and Nettuno a few minutes later, with both stations close to the water. Anzio carries real history: the ruins of Nero’s seaside villa, the Allied landing beaches of 1944, and a long promenade that fills with Romans every weekend. Nettuno keeps a walled medieval borgo and a quieter pace. For buyers, the appeal is value and reach: prime asking prices in Anzio sat around €1,900 per square metre in mid-2026, with the best seafront positions climbing toward €2,900, and Nettuno trades in the same band. This is where the coast is most affordable and easiest to use as a year-round base rather than a summer-only retreat.
If you are weighing the two towns, our guide to what to see and do in Anzio is a good orientation, and our listings show the range: a villa by the sea in Anzio for those who want their own garden and pool, or an apartment by the sea with a roof terrace for a lower-maintenance base a short walk from the beach.
Sabaudia: between sea and lake, and rationalist by design
Sabaudia is the coast’s most distinctive address. Founded in 1934 on land reclaimed from the Pontine marshes, it is a rare intact example of Italian rationalist town planning, its clean 1930s lines set against a wide dune beach, a pine forest, and the lagoon of Lake Paola behind. Circeo National Park begins at its edge. There is no direct train, and the drive from Rome runs closer to an hour and forty minutes, and that relative distance is part of what has kept Sabaudia a discreet summer address for Rome’s professional and cultural class rather than a mass-tourism resort. Prime homes ask roughly €2,400 to €2,650 per square metre in mid-2026, with the best lungomare positions reaching as high as €5,500. The rental market is moving fast: Immobiliare.it recorded asking rents up about 21 percent year on year in May 2026, a clear signal of how strong summer demand on this stretch has become.
We cover the town’s particular appeal, sea on one side and lake on the other, in our piece on why Sabaudia is one of Italy’s best-kept secrets. Among our listings, a luxury villa with panoramic sea views and private beach access is the kind of front-row position the town rarely releases, while a prestigious villa to rent between lake and sea lets you test the address for a season first.
San Felice Circeo: the cape inside a national park
At the southern end of this arc, San Felice Circeo wraps around a dramatic limestone promontory inside the Parco Nazionale del Circeo, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A clifftop medieval borgo looks out over the Tyrrhenian, and the protected landscape strictly limits what can be built, so inventory is scarce and tightly held. It is the hardest of the four towns to reach, close to two hours by car and with no direct train, which is precisely why it has stayed the most exclusive. Asking prices for quality homes run from roughly €2,700 to €3,300 per square metre, and the finest cape and borgo positions sit well above that. Demand comes from established Roman families and a growing number of international buyers who want privacy and nature within reach of the capital. Our elegant seaside residence in Circeo is a good measure of what the promontory offers.
Buying on the Lazio coast: access, seasons, and why 2026
Read as a whole, this coast is a spectrum. Anzio and Nettuno give you reach and value, usable by train and all year round. Sabaudia and Circeo give you exclusivity and landscape, reached by car and prized in summer. Most stock here is bought as a second home, but the rental economics are real: summer demand on the litorale is strong and rising, and a well-placed villa can earn through July and August while you use it in the shoulder season. If you are searching for a home by the sea near Rome, the season to look is now, before the summer peak sets prices and availability. The wider backdrop is favourable too: as we set out in our analysis of Italy’s property market in H1 2026, the prime segment is pulling ahead of the normalising mass market, and coastal Lazio sits squarely in that prime story. For those testing the water first, our overview of summer villa rentals across Lazio, Anzio, Sabaudia and Tuscany is a practical place to start. When you are ready to buy, Trevi Elite represents a selected portfolio along the whole coast and guides the purchase from first viewing to notary.
Sources: Idealista.it and Immobiliare.it (asking-price and rental data, May/June 2026); OMI (Agenzia delle Entrate); Engel & Völkers Italia with Nomisma, “Market Report Italia” (2025/2026). Travel times by public transport and road, mid-2026.