Beach towns in Italy - help!
 

We are going to be in Italy in June, and are looking to spend maybe a week in some sort of beach town resort, and get some good beach/sun time in. Any recommendations? We're mostly looking in the areas of Lazio (west of rome) and also the west of Pisa area (like Viareggio). Any recommendations for towns with decent beach areas?

Viareggio was nice. Good weather, a large stretch of beach, no Americans that I can remember.

The best beaches in the Lazio-Tuscany area are probably those of southern Tuscany. Check out Monte Argentario and nearby villages and towns.

usbeauty: I do not know avout your standards for beaches, but to me Viareggio looks like a dump! Rows of umbrellas right with a _road_ righ behind them, huge crowds, dirty water and depressing town. There are far better places in Tuscany, there are the lovely and largely still unspoilt beaches of southern Tuscany where you can bathe in a far less crowded and far more clean water and relax on a beach that is lined by a pine wood where to seek refuge when the heat is too much. Viareggi is probably (aside from the industrial areas of Pisa, Livorno and Piombino) the worst beach area of the whole Tuscany!

Well I'm from New York and it looked good to me :-) Thanks for setting me straight! I'll check out the places you mention next time. Thanks.

The beach near Sperlonga, southwest of Rome, is very nice.

We stayed in Positano last year for a week. The beach was nice- busy- but as a fellow New Yorker it's nothing. Make sure you eat at Chez BLack. We also went to the beach in Amalfi- not as nice as Positano.

usbeuty:
When (hopefully) I will have an occasion to visit New York, I'll make sure NOT to visit any nearby beach ;-P

That is the subject for another forum ;-

If you're inclined to drive a bit, the little fishing village of Camogli (just below Genoa) is so lovely. The beach is pebbly, however, but the charm of the town (composed of Italian tourists) makes up for it.
For more of a 'beach', try Forte dei Marmi.

We visited Forte di Marmi as part of a day trip from Florence to Pisa (would not go back to Pisa or recommend going there at all). Long stretch of beach and beach hotels and a pretty nice little town. In the distance you can see the cliffs of carrera marble and if you get bored or sunburned, it is an easy drive to some of the marble quarries. There is very little "public" beach. Almost every stretch of beach belongs to one of the hotels so you either need to be a guest or be prepared to pay for the cabana boy to set you up with some towels and chairs.
I would recommend forte di marmi and would return there again.

Two threads from earlier in the year on similar topic:

? Italy's best beaches? ?
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1353477

and

? 10 Most Beautiful Italian Beaches ?
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1371488