The Times Magazine 5920-minute drive to a favourite beach spot
for locals, Ultima Spiaggia (“last beach”, as
it touches the border with Lazio). This is a
no-frills sun-worshippers’ institution with
simple seafood and sunloungers on offer. A
little further north, in the Maremma Regional
Park, you can hike to pristine coves secluded
by rosemary bushes and pine groves.
Stay L’Andana is a lovely hotel housed in the
former hunting lodge of Leopold II, Duke of
Tuscany. A 15-minute drive from the city of
Grosseto and from the nearest beach, its
driveway is lined by cypress trees and it has
lush gardens with olive groves (andana.it).
Eat La Dogana Capalbio, a chic spot for lunch
and cocktails on the beach near Capalbio.3 SALINA, SICILY
Head to the Aeolian island of Salina in June,
before the hordes of Italians descend in July
and August. It’s not easy to get to – the ferry
from Palermo is 3½ hours, from Milazzo in
Sicily it’s 1½ hours, from Naples more than
6 hours – but it’s still so popular that you have
to book a room months in advance. The island
is volcanic and has three coastal towns: Santa
Marina, Rinella and Malfa, all of them with
simple, pastel-coloured houses climbing up the
hillside and battered fishing boats bobbing in
the bay. Santa Marina is the main port and
from here you can rent a scooter and take a
trip to Punta Lingua, where you will find a
lighthouse on a brackish lake and a piazza
where you can grab a cheap lunch of pane
cunzato, a typical Sicilian povera (poor) dish
of bread topped with fresh ingredients, in
particular capers from the island. On the
other side of Salina is Pollara beach where you
find the balate, stone fishermen’s houses carved
into the cliff-face and accessible by a steep
staircase cut into the rock. This is the spot to
watch the sun set over the Aeolian islands
with a glass of local Malvasia sweet wine.
Stay Principe di Salina is a boutique hotel near
Malfa much loved by Italians. It is peak Med
with all-white walls and palms, cacti and olive
trees around the pool (principedisalina.it).
Eat Porto Bello or Didyme in Santa Marina:
both do top-notch seafood with a view.4 PANAREA
Cool, wealthy Italian families go to Panarea
in August. The smallest of the Aeolian islands,
it’s not ostentatious but is a bit sexier and
glossier than its sister isles. Dolce & Gabbana
love it, the Bulgari family have a home here
and it has also attracted international A-listers- Beyoncé and Jay Z, Jeff Bezos and Kate
Moss have holidayed on the isle. Though
they are likely to have helicoptered in rather
than taken the ferry from Milazzo. But all
this is not to say that Panarea has lost its
local charm, because it hasn’t. You cannot
help but be enchanted by the sheer
Mediterranean-ness of the bougainvillea-laced
walls and cornflower-blue doors of the tiny
but labyrinthine port town of San Pietro.
When it comes to beaches, you can hire a
scooter or a golf cart (there are no cars on the
island) and head to the one or two that have
roads leading to them (Cala Zimmari and
Spiaggia della Calcara), but the best way to
do it is come gli Italiani: hire a boat and zip
around the perimeter visiting the coves,
stopping to eat insalata caprese on the deck.
Stay Hotel Raya is the place to be on Panarea.
It has simple, sophisticated rooms but the main
draw is the after-dinner social scene. At night
one of its many large terraces looking out to
sea transforms into an open-air dancefloor
full of sexy sun-kissed people (hotelraya.it).
Eat There is not an abundance of restaurants
on Panarea. Most people eat at their hotel
or in their villa. But for a smart dinner out,
Hycesia in San Pietro is a good choice.5 SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA, PUGLIA
Leuca, as the locals call it, lies at the tip of
Italy’s “stiletto heel” – the Salento peninsula- and as such is lesser-reached by tourists.
The Italians, though, make the journey to this
point where the Ionian and Adriatic seas meet
for the enchanting grottos and the blue-green
waters, the coves full of colourful parasols
and the laid-back lidos. A standout beach
is Il Ciolo, a sliver of an inlet in the Adriatic
with swimming caves and an epic aqueduct
crossing the water above. From here there is
a great and very doable one-hour hike across
the limestone headlands called the Sentiero
delle Cipolliane. The beaches are small so if
you’re looking for stretches of sand with lower
cliffs, the Ionian side is your best bet: try
Felloniche and Posto Vecchio. The region
is full of Greco-Roman ruins too.
Stay This area doesn’t have fancy hotels, but
L’Approdo is attractive and has a pool with
views of Leuca’s harbour (hotelapprodo.com).
Eat Beachfront Lido Azzurro is practically
a Pugliese institution. It was one of the first
simple seaside seafood joints in Salento.
The medieval town of Capalbio on the Maremma coastPollara beach on Salina is lined
with stone fishermen’s housesTRAVEL
SPECIAL