Nettuno Beach

Three weeks ago we visited Nettuno (Neptune) Beach. It is about a 25 minutes car ride from us in Latina. The beach is very clean and the water is also very clear. Beautiful views all around as well. Just off the beach is a large Catholic Church. The attendants at the beach rent umbrellas and chairs for 5 Euro each. We had a nice lunch on the beach of pasta with clams, shrimp, and fried squid.

Mountain Top Villages

As we make our 2 hour trek to Naples (Napoli) we travel through the Lepini Mountains (Monti Lepini). These mountains are comparable to the Appalachian Mountain range in the eastern U.S. It is an intriguing sight. As we drive through the valley We see various villages that are built on the mountain tops. They have an entire valley floor that could have been used for this purpose, however; they chose the mountain tops. I slightly exaggerate because you will see a village in the valley, but I am somewhat perplexed as to the reason for the extra effort required to build a village at these heights. These villages tend to be your more ancient villages. My educational guess is that the ancient Italians built these villages on the mountain tops for protection against enemy invaders. I will try to validate my hunch by asking the locals and by doing some research.