The quiet little seaside restaurant serving spaghetti with clams right by the water

The sea and summer seem to go hand in hand, and yet they’re the two elements of a nearly insurmountable oxymoron: what usually stands between them is the overcrowding of beaches and beach shacks, which, after all, experience their peak season in August.
And yet, there’s another kind of “oxymoron” that actually allows us to pick a lovely little cove by the sea without the pressure of compulsive sunbathers and hordes of screaming children armed with buckets and spades. In fact, there are stretches of coastline that can be more pleasant in August than in other summer months: it’s the “metropolitan sea,” the seaside spots near cities that tend to empty out in August, whereas in June, July, and September they’re once again besieged by day-trippers.
This is especially true if you can carve out a midweek getaway: in that case, tranquillity is (mostly!) guaranteed.

The “hidden” beach between Tarquinia and Civitavecchia

Our tip: aim for Sant’Agostino, a small beach between Tarquinia and Civitavecchia along the stretch of coast separating the provinces of Viterbo and Rome. Stop at Boca do Mar, a small, well-kept beach club that overlooks a tiny sandy bay framed by rocks and “protected” by a large barracks building reserved for (a few) military umbrellas.
The kitchen here is run by a character from another time: the cheerful and proud Raffaello Sgambella, a cook with past experience both abroad and in nearby Civitavecchia, who now seems to have found the perfect spot to stir pans and have fun just steps from home — near the mouth of the Mignone River (which, incidentally, can be followed upstream to Monteromano through still-untouched Mediterranean countryside — though who knows for how much longer!).

Ode to spaghetti with clams

Here, accompanied by a decent glass of white wine, you can enjoy a perfectly prepared tonnarello with clams, paccheri with a variety of expertly cooked fish, and fried seafood that always goes down well by the sea (with no pretensions of haute cuisine).
And above all, you can try Raffaello’s sauté of mussels and clams — strictly white (no tomato) and enriched with a “secret” ingredient (oh well, let’s spill it: a piece of sea rock that enhances the briny flavour), which also finds its way into the fish soup (when available).
All in all, a little trip that’s well worth it…