Grotte di Nerone (Nero's Grotto)
What looks from the beach like a row of sea caves carved by nature is actually something stranger: the eroded lower level of a Roman imperial villa, its corridors and storage cellars worn into arches by two millennia of wind and water. The ruins of Nero's villa stretch for 800 metres along this Lazio coastline, and the lower sections — once warehouses and service rooms — have slumped toward the sea close enough that you can stand on the sand and look straight into them.
The beach here is public and in summer genuinely crowded, but the ruins above and around you give it an atmosphere that a plain stretch of coast doesn't have. Frescoed walls and architectural fragments survive in the archaeological area above the shoreline, visible through a fence.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to arrive early — before the beach fills — and walk the full length of the ruins from the water's edge, where the caves are most dramatic at low sun. The lack of interpretive signage frustrates some visitors, so a little reading beforehand pays off more here than at a well-labelled site.
The story behind Grotte di Nerone (Nero's Grotto)
Anzio — ancient Antium — was an imperial retreat long before Nero arrived. Augustus used the villa here, and it remained in imperial hands, inhabited almost continuously, through to Septimius Severus in the early 3rd century AD. Nero expanded the complex substantially, pushing it along 800 metres of clifftop above the sea.
After Severus, the villa was abandoned. Barbarian and Saracen raids stripped what remained above ground, and the lower structures — warehouses and service rooms built into the cliff — were left to the sea. Erosion gradually hollowed them into the cave-like forms you see today, which is how a set of Roman storage cellars acquired the name Grotte di Nerone.
Good to know
Anzio is an hour by train from Rome; the site is a walkable kilometre from the station. Entry is free. Come outside July and August if you want the ruins to yourself — spring mornings are particularly quiet. The beach can collect litter; the archaeological area above is better kept.
July and August bring the most sun — over 300 hours in July alone — with sea temperatures around 25°C, but also the thickest crowds on the beach. Spring offers mild days and far fewer visitors; November is the wettest month and best avoided for an outdoor site with no shelter.
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What travellers say about Grotte di Nerone (Nero's Grotto)
The beach was dirty with rubbish at the time of our visit- end of May, the grota was also full of rubbish (beer bottles and empty containers) there are rubbish bins on the beach but no one bothered to take few extra steps to keep the area clean. Disappointed, not sure I will return soon
Could be amazing but people are not able take their trash with them. Extremly dirty place!
Out of the season is quite and clean, perfect for walking early in the morning. Well preserved the caves are very popular “must see” in Anzio.
Beautiful but it's on a public beach so very crowded.
Beautiful place, worth a quick walk and visit
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