ITALICA · Discover

Romans Don't Pack for the Beach. They Pack for Eight O'Clock.

A Roman weekend at the sea takes almost no packing. The bag is put together for one hour of the day.

1 · The coast

Towns, not resorts

Fregene sits 25 kilometers out. Sabaudia lies under the Circeo promontory, Sperlonga on a cliff above the sand. The beach closes, and then the town opens.

2 · The bag

Less than you would guess

A swimsuit, sometimes two. One cotton shirt she has had for years. Flat sandals. No outfit for Saturday and a second one for Sunday.

3 · The hour

Seven o'clock, and the beach gives up

A shower, forty minutes, and the town fills again. Dinner and the slow walk around it are the reason anyone drove out of Rome on a Friday.

4 · The one piece

It goes in the bag first

Long, cotton, nothing to press and nothing it insists on. And it cannot read as beachwear once the light goes.

ITALICA

Pack the evening first

The day needs far less than anyone packs for it. See the long cotton dresses Maria brings back each summer.

See the day dresses