Cerrano Marine Reserve

A beach-lover’s paradise

Perhaps it was my upbringing in egalitarian Scotland, or the happy hours I spent roaming Australian beaches as a young adult, but I believe that beaches should be for everyone.

That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the convenience of private lidos.

Same Beach, Same Sea

If you frequent the same beach day in, day out for the whole summer, as many Italians do, you don’t want to have to drag your paraphernalia behind you every morning. It’s natural to want your spot reserved, with your umbrella already opened, your sunbed in place, your beach neighbours familiar and friendly. Many Italians are happy to pay a price for such comforts.

Stessa Spiaggia, Stesso Mare, as the song goes: same beach, same sea.

In praise of public beaches

But I don’t need to have the sand neatly combed. Nor do I need acquagym, or salsa lessons or any other entertainment that is part and parcel of lido life.

Moreover, there’s something oppressive about a canopy of identical beach umbrellas blocking out the sky. Not to mention enforced cheek-by-jowl – or , if you will, cheek-to-cheek – sunbathing.

Not that public beaches don’t get crowded.  Once, in Puglia, I returned from a swim to find that a complete stranger had laid their beach towel down on top of mine.

And that’s the trouble with private beaches: the more there are, the fewer and more crowded and squashed the public beaches become.

Cerrano, a beach-lover’s paradise

At Cerrano, just north of Silvi, there are one or two small, quiet lidos, but the rest, for several kilometres, is free. At weekends in August a part of the beach might be swarming with lido-eschewing bathers but the more you distance yourself from the carpark and access path, the emptier the landscape becomes.

This is a Parco Marino, meaning the wildlife is protected. But it is free and accessible to all.

Along the back of the beach runs the railway, close enough for you to imagine the envy and longing on the faces of bored passengers as the carriages rattle past. Beyond the railway the green and gold countryside slopes upwards to Silvi Paese, just visible on its rocky promontory. Turn the other way and you face the unobstructed sparkling sweep of the Adriatic.

The sea always feels different to me at a public beach. Somehow there is a saltier sting: swimming feels more cleansing, more invigorating, healthier.

There are seldom lifeguards or bagnini in attendance on public beaches in Italy, and swimming here at Cerrano is unsupervised. On a windless day in summer, though, the sea is calm and gloriously clear.

The sand underfoot forms shelves, so it can happen that you wade out to where the water comes to your waist, only to take a step or two and find it lapping at your ankles again. Beware, though, because of course the opposite can occur and the seafloor might drop away without warning, leaving you treading water.  On stormy days there can be a strong current.

The Tower

Just where the beach curves round towards Pineto, at the spot where the old port of Atri or Hatria was built in the thirteenth century is the Torre from which this part of the beach takes its name. Having passed from one private owner to another, this sixteenth century tower – actually more like a small castle – is now a Research and Study centre belonging to the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Teramo but more poetically called the Sea Museum.

Guided visits to the Torre run at 11am and 5.30pm on weekdays. (Please book for a tour in English). Volunteers also run laboratories and, most intriguingly, excursions for snorkelers and divers to see the submerged ancient port.

Now that I must do.

In the meantime though, adjacent to the tower is a ‘Mediterranean Garden’ from where I have a leaf-framed view of the beach and sea, and a delightful bar with small wooden tables and white umbrellas.

The Ciclovia Adriatica passes right by here, climbing up to and round the tower before winding its way towards the woods of Pineto.

This post started out in praise of public beaches. But it would be wrong of me to neglect to mention that at one of the small lidos at the south end of the Cerrano Marine Reserve there is a family-run restaurant with gingham tablecloths and a splendid view of the sea, where I once had an excellent brodo di pesce.

Just saying.

The Torre del Cerrano is north of Silvi on the strada statale SS16 and is visible from this road. There is paid parking. The Adriatic cycle path runs alongside the beach. We ate at Lido Ithaca.