jentrav

My husband and I will be spending our final night in Italy in Santa Marinella, about 45 minutes from the Rome airport. We're looking for any dinner recommendations you might have. We're not picky - we just love good, authentic, non-touristy food. A nice atmosphere would be a great plus. Thanks to anyone who can help!

zeppole

This might be open the night you are there depending on when and what day you are traveling.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/792396

If it is closed, you are not likely to get anything other than authentic, non-touristy food in Santa Marinella until perhaps next summer.

If you have a car and a willing to drive a bit, the restaurants Arcadia and Cavatappi in Tarquinia are quite good, and Tarquinia is quite an enjoyable small hill town even if you don't go to its marvelous Etruscan museum. In fact, if you are traveling outside of summer, Tarquinia is only another 10 minutes up the road and it might be a more enjoyable place to stay for a night than Santa Marinella. Likewise Cerveteri, which is even closer to FCO and also less of a purely summer beach town. It is a wine town and it might have more good restaurants open off-season.

zeppole

In case my writing wasn't clear, what I am saying is that if the Chowhound recommended restaurant for Santa Marinella isn't open when you are there, any other restaurant that is open is very unlikely to be catering to foreign tourists.

By the way, it is normal to find only seafood in restaurants along the coast, and the best ones using fresh fish and seafood will cost more than the lousy restaurants playing tricks. So be prepared to pay a somewhat larger bill for eating good seafood, and if you don't understand how whole fish is priced by weight in a restaurant, don't order it if you are traveling within a budget, because whole fish cooked to order can turn out to be hugely expensive. If you want fish, order a filet or tranche of it, where you will pay the price already shown on the menu.

zeppole

Sorry to stick in that extra bit about pricing in seaside restaurants if you already have been to Italy several times and know it already. And I have nothing against Santa Marinella so long as you are aware it is very much a summer town and much will close by mid October and pretty much stay that way until Easter.

jentrav

zeppole, a belated thank you and response. Yes, we have been to Italy several times before, but your advice about how seafood is priced is a good refresher and much appreciated. We are only staying in Santa Marinella for a few hours and then overnight...we just wanted something a little more interesting than an airport hotel. I'm sure we'll be happy there, and we're looking forward to enjoying some good seafood.