Italy's National Parks

Lying only 65 miles south of Rome, Circeo is easily accessible from the capital or from Naples. The small park is unspectacular, certainly by comparison with others that embrace wilder and rarer animals and landscapes, but it preserves a native Mediterranean coastal ecosystem that has all but disappeared elsewhere. Laced with hiking trails that lead up to the park's highest point, 1,775-foot-tall Monte Circeo, the park is easy to visit in a single day, though the rocky coastline has plenty of hidden beaches that invite a leisurely approach. Keep your eyes peeled there for the park's secretive population of foxes, and scan the cliffs for the nests of hawks and peregrine falcons. Camping within the park is forbidden, but there are campgrounds and hotels in the nearby towns of Santa Felice Circeo and Sabaudia, the second of which houses the park's headquarters and visitor center.

Lying only 65 miles south of Rome, Circeo is easily accessible from the capital or from Naples. The small park is unspectacular, certainly by comparison with others that embrace wilder and rarer animals and landscapes, but it preserves a native Mediterranean coastal ecosystem that has all but disappeared elsewhere.