Latina

A morning among the Littoria-era squares

Latina was built from scratch in 1932 as Littoria, one of the new towns created after the Pontine Marshes were drained. The result is a centre designed all at once, with straight avenues meeting at Piazza del Popolo and civic buildings in the stripped-back style of the period.

Start in the morning at Piazza del Popolo, before the heat builds, and walk the surrounding streets to see how the town was meant to work, with the town hall, offices and churches placed as a single composition. Carry on to the cathedral of San Marco, named for the patron saint of the Venetian families who settled the plain, and look in at the civic museum given over to Duilio Cambellotti, the artist whose work recorded the reclamation. A coffee in the arcades is the right pause.

Because the station is at Latina Scalo, 8.5 km north, come by car or allow for a taxi or bus. In the afternoon, drive down to Lido di Latina for a swim and stay for sunset on the coast before heading back inland.

Buffalo mozzarella and kiwi orchards of the Agro Pontino

The land around Latina was swamp a century ago; today it is some of the most productive farmland in central Italy, and that shapes the table. Water buffalo graze the wetter fields, and the province falls inside the protected area for mozzarella di bufala, so a fresh ball bought from a dairy on the plain is the obvious picnic.

The orderly orchards you pass on the straight roads are mostly kiwi, a crop the Agro Pontino grows on a scale few places in Europe match.

The settlers who arrived in the 1930s came largely from Veneto, Friuli and Emilia, and their kitchens came with them: polenta still turns up beside Lazio's usual pasta, especially in the outlying villages.

For fish, head to the coast. Terracina and the small ports to the south serve the catch simply grilled or with pasta, and the black olive di Gaeta from the far end of the province appear on most antipasto plates.

Circeo dunes, Ninfa gardens and Sermoneta by car

Latina works best as a base for the Pontine area, and a car makes every trip simpler. The nearest escape is Lido di Latina, the city's own beach on the Tyrrhenian coast, with the Fogliano lake just behind the shore.

Further south, Circeo National Park protects coastal dunes, lakes and forest below Monte Circeo. Sabaudia, another new town of the 1930s, sits inside the park and makes an interesting comparison with Latina: smaller, whiter and right beside a lagoon. Its long sand beach backed by dunes is the best swimming on this coast.

Inland, the medieval hill town of Sermoneta looks down over the plain from its Caetani castle, and close by lie the Gardens of Ninfa, a romantic garden laid out among the ruins of an abandoned town. Ninfa opens on weekends and public holidays from late March to early November, and entry must be booked in advance. Terracina, on the coast beyond Circeo, adds a Roman temple site high above the sea. Each of these is within an easy hour's drive.