The Beautiful and Little-Known Coastal Villages to Reach This Summer

Perched on rocky cliffs, nestled on green hills, or sprawled along the coast, but all overlooking the sea.

These are villages far from the more touristy spots or located along less-traveled paths where it's worth making a stop.

Here are some gorgeous and lesser-known coastal villages to include in your summer trip.

Grottammare Alta is a delightful medieval village overlooking the sea, perched on the edge of a hill, with rustic houses and narrow streets, filled with the scent of orange groves.

Along the path that leads you there, you will find the 17th-century villa of Cardinal Decio Azzolino, where Christina of Sweden stayed.

Following the capture of the city in 1525 by the pirate Dulcigno, the village was fortified with walls, gates, and a tower known as the Battle Tower.

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It currently hosts many works of Pericle Fazzini, a wind sculptor and one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. In the 16th-century Church of Saint Augustine, there is a Madonna of Mercy by Vincenzo Pagani.

In the nearby Piazzetta Peretti, you can enjoy an exceptional view from the balcony of the building that houses the historic Teatro dell'Arancio, near which stands the Clock Tower.

Don't miss the Church of Santa Lucia, built by Camilla Peretti in memory of her brother Felice Peretti, who became Pope Sixtus V. On the hill overlooking the village, you can find the remains of a fortress built in the 9th-10th centuries.

An ancient fishing village that enchants with its quaint streets and colorful houses overlooking the Riviera del Conero. Numana is located in the province of Ancona and is a true gem of the coast.

Its picturesque center is enclosed within the upper part of the town, aptly called Numana Alta, while the lower part of Numana is the livelier area with beach establishments, magnificent beaches, and crystal-clear waters, awarded the Blue Flag title for years.

Numana retains its maritime origins in the upper part, where a dense network of narrow streets embraces the colorful fishermen's houses and then opens up to a wide terrace overlooking the sea, offering a unique panorama that spans the entire coast of the Riviera del Conero.

From the center, you can walk down toward the port through the ancient stepped road, the Costarella, which fishermen traversed every morning at dawn.

In just a few minutes' walk from the center, you reach the Frati beach, while from Numana's port, boats depart for the famous Due Sorelle beach.

San Vito Chietino overlooks the Adriatic Sea along the Trabocchi Coast, between Ortona and Fossacesia.

The village sits on a rocky spur, and from its balconies, you can enjoy a wide panorama that stretches from the Majella to the Gargano and the Tremiti Islands.

"The land of gorse," as D'Annunzio called it, who stayed here with his lover Barbara Leoni in the summer of 1889 at the Portelle hermitage or D'Annunzio's hermitage.

In this residence, the Pescara-born poet found inspiration and setting for his last work, the Triumph of Death, the final entry in the so-called trilogy of the Rose Novels.

The village also tells of its medieval past through the remains of its defensive walls and beautiful churches.

Sandy or pebbly beaches, dominated by majestic sandstone cliffs, showcase the best of the Trabocchi coast.

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The coast, particularly rugged, is characterized by the Turchino Promontory, named for the crystal-clear sea that takes on the intense shades of the sky.

This area is made even more evocative by the presence of the Turchino Trabocco.

A fraction of Arzachena, Cannigione is a renowned tourist village in the Costa Smeralda, originally a fishing village.

It lies on the western side of the largest and deepest ria, or inlet formed by a river mouth, in the northeast of Sardinia.

Its waterfront is lined with the docks of a modern and spacious port. Next to it, you'll see the town beach with its light sandy grains and azure sea.

Cannigione has also become one of the premier diving centers in Sardinia: don't miss visits to the seagrass beds at various dive spots, particularly at the Mortoriotto rock.

Nearby, you can find many other beautiful beaches, stretching from the Arzachena Gulf to the Saline of Palau, along a stretch of coast ideal for families and young people, not far from the more exclusive areas of the coast.

At the very edge of the southeast of Sicily and the southernmost point of Europe lies Portopalo di Capo Passero.

It is the southernmost municipality on the Sicilian island and the furthest south of Tunis.

Accessible via a spectacular panoramic road adjacent to the sea, Portopalo is a coastal village washed by the Ionian and the Mediterranean.

Via Vittorio Emanuele is the main street that splits the town, facing the two seas. In the center, you find the Church of San Gaetano, dedicated to the patron saint of Portopalo.

The village also boasts the largest tuna fishery in Italy, although it has been in a state of total neglect since the 1990s.

Nearby is the Tafuri Castle, with its unmistakable Art Nouveau style, dating back to 1935 and situated on a rocky outcrop along the southeast coast of Sicily.

Before you can see the island of Capo Passero, which was once a peninsula, and the Island of Currents, which still becomes one during low tide.

On the Ionian coast, in the province of Taranto, lies Campomarino di Maruggio, the only fraction of the municipality of Maruggio populated almost exclusively in summer.

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The heart of the small village is Piazzale Italia, more commonly referred to by locals as the roundabout or the little square, built in 1958 where the Tower of Moline, a 15th-century Saracen watchtower, stands.

The port, the only one on the coast between Porto Cesareo and Taranto, is divided into two areas: one dedicated to fishing boats and the other to tourism.

The tourist port features a large square where concerts and shows are held in the summer. But the attraction of Campomarino is its beautiful white beaches lapped by a crystal-clear sea along the beautiful 9 km coastline.

Crossing sandy dunes speckled with Mediterranean scrub, you will dive into a transparent sea with a shallow bottom.

If you love snorkeling and diving, at around 6 meters deep, you can admire numerous marble sarcophagi from the Roman era.

Perched on a limestone hill, Posada is a small village in Baronia, in northeastern Sardinia, listed among the most beautiful villages in Italy.

Posada is one of the oldest Sardinian centers. It was probably an Italic-Etruscan settlement (5th-4th century BC). In Roman times, everything revolved around the portus Liquidonis, now San Giovanni di Posada, a coastal village dominated by an Aragonese tower.

As the Latin toponym Pausata indicates, the village served as a stopping point and a border area. Today, Posada retains its medieval charm with a maze of alleys, stairways, and small squares.

At the center stands the parish church of Saint Anthony Abbot. Overlooking the center is the 13th-century Castle of Fava.

At the foot of the village extends the valley of the Rio Posada, which can be kayaked through, recommended for nature and archaeology lovers. Around the Lake of Maccheronis, trails for biking wind through the Tepilora park, one of the largest and most beautiful green areas in Sardinia.

Here, you can see pink flamingos in the San Giovanni lagoon or relax on the beach of the same name.

Tortolì is the gateway to Ogliastra, a varied and surprising land.

The town, with eleven thousand residents, welcomes tens of thousands of tourists in the summer, attracted by tropical beaches, woods, Mediterranean scrub, fertile plains, lagoons, and sweet hills. Its peculiarity, however, is the stripe of red porphyry that runs parallel to the coast.

The Red Rocks are the natural monument not to be missed in the fraction of Arbatax, rising from emerald green waters. Here, it also hosts the Rocce Rosse Blues music festival.

Next to it is the port, from which boat excursions to the beautiful Ogliastra coves depart. The coast of Tortolì, often awarded Blue Flags, boasts enchanting beaches and inlets such as Cala Moresca or Cala Ginepro.

Those who love to take refuge in nature can explore the urban park La Sughereta and the Battery park, atop a hill, with a view of the entire gulf.

The Ogliastra region also preserves over 200 monuments from the Nuragic age, including the prestigious site of s'Ortali 'e su Monti, which includes a complex nuraghe, a Giant's Tomb, two menhirs, a domus de Janas, a wall, and the remains of another nuraghe.

However, the entire area preserves the evidence of past peoples. Punic traces can be found in the Tortolì lagoon, while remnants of Roman dominance are the shipwrecks in the gulf's waters. The watchtowers from the Spanish era include the tower of San Miguel.

In the center of Tortolì, you can visit the modern art museum Logu de s'Iscultura and the former cathedral of Saint Andrew, built at the end of the 18th century in neoclassical style on an older church, of which two chapels remain, one of which housed the statue of Saint Elizabeth from Hungary.

About 10 minutes from Imperia lies Cervo, listed among the most beautiful villages in Italy. It is an ancient medieval village that dives into the sea.

Begin exploring the center by climbing to the castle, with the Porta Marina della Montà, which marked the southern limit of the castle walls until the end of the 18th century. The 16th-century palace above the low narrow porticoes echoes the Genoese buildings of the time.

As you ascend, you encounter Palazzo Morchio, from the late 17th century, now a municipality, which belonged to Tommaso Morchio, an admiral commander of ten Genoese galleys who, in 1371, conquered the island of Malta and the city of Mazara in Sicily.

In the main square, there's the baroque Church of San Giovanni Battista. Its original concave facade rises over the sea and, in the evening, its bell tower resembles a lighthouse guiding sailors to shore.

The 12th-century castle was built by the marquises of Clavesana as their residence but was gutted in the 17th century and divided into two parts: the upper part with a single vault retains a fresco depicting Saint Catherine, while the lower part, reduced, has hosted the hospital and today houses the Ethnographic Museum.

It's also worth visiting the ancient parish church dedicated to Saint George of Cappadocia, whose cult sailors learned in the East during the Crusades. Additionally, Cervo boasts numerous noble palaces such as Palace Balleydier, a beautiful 18th-century building frescoed by Carrega.

Situated on a hill overlooking the sea and the surrounding countryside, Campiglia Marittima is one of the most beautiful villages in Val di Cornia, located in the Etruscan Coast.

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From the village, you can see the promontory of the Argentario, and on clear days, even the Corsica. At 281 meters, you'll find the Rocca di Campiglia, which includes the building of the cassero, the ancient cistern, the impressive crenelated wall with a bifore window of the noble building, and the aqueduct from the '30s.

Inside the ancient walls lies the heart of the village. The Palazzo Pretorio is the symbol of the political and military power that dominates the other buildings with its clock tower topped by a beautiful bell.

Today, the palace houses the Historical Archives, the Children's Library "The Palace of Stories", the Carlo Guarnieri Museum, and the Mineral Museum.

Among the churches, it's worth seeing the Pieve of St. John, a splendid example of the Romanesque-Tuscan style, and the Church of St. Lawrence, which hosts the Sacred Art Museum. Finally, notable is the Teatro dei Concordi, venue for important performances.