What is Anguillara Sabazia known for?

Underwater Neolithic village dated to 5700 BC, one of the oldest preserved lakeshore settlements in Europe, with wooden canoes and grain stores. One of three communes on the volcanic crater lake; Anguillara holds the southern shore and is the closest of the three to Rome. Small volcanic promontory pushed into the lake, with the medieval town built end-to-end across it from lakefront to upper church.

Where is Anguillara Sabazia?

Anguillara Sabazia is a comune in the province of Roma, Lazio region of Italy, about 33 kilometers from Roma.

Lazio · Roma

Anguillara Sabazia

A medieval cape town jutting into Lake Bracciano, twenty-five kilometers from Rome, built above a 5700 BC Neolithic lakeshore village.

33 km / 21 mi

Nearest hub (Roma)

19,091

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Why come

Anguillara Sabazia sits on a small volcanic cape that pushes into Lake Bracciano from the southern shore, twenty-five kilometers northwest of Rome. The medieval town climbs from the lake on stepped streets to the Porta Maggiore and the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta at the top. The setting is older than the medieval town: La Marmotta, a few hundred meters offshore from the cape, is one of the oldest underwater archaeological sites in Europe, an Early Neolithic lakeshore village dated to 5700 BC, with preserved wooden canoes and grain stores in the lakebed mud. The Romans came later: Rutilia Polla, a Roman patrician, owned a villa on the cape in the first century BC, and the modern town name carries the surname of the medieval Anguillara family who took the place after the empire. Anguillara is one of three communes on Lake Bracciano with Bracciano and Trevignano, and it is the closest to Rome of the three.

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Gallery

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Known for

Porta Maggiore e centro storico
Medieval gate and stepped town climbing from the lakefront on the volcanic cape, with stone streets converging on the upper piazza.
Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta
Main church at the top of the cape, rebuilt in the sixteenth century on earlier foundations, with views over the lake from the parvis.
Lungolago e cape
Lakefront promenade and small beaches along the cape, with views east to Trevignano and west to Bracciano across the volcanic basin.
La Marmotta (underwater)
Submerged Early Neolithic lakeshore village dated to 5700 BC, a few hundred meters offshore, with wooden canoes and grain preserved in the mud.
Lago di Martignano
Smaller crater lake two kilometers north, reserved for swimming and rowing, accessible from Anguillara on foot or by car.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the strong months. The cape is exposed and the wind off the lake keeps the temperature mild even in warm weeks. July and August are hot, around thirty degrees, and the lakefront fills on weekends with Romans driving up for a swim and grilled coregone. November through March is quiet. The Sagra del Pesce di Lago each August is the main local festa, when the lakefront serves coregone and persico, the lake whitefish and perch that Anguillara, Bracciano and Trevignano all share.