PORTONOVO: Landmark tower leads to nude beach!

AT THE END OF A long, white gravel road, an old brick tower stands alone, fenced off and surrounded by trees that lean toward the adjacent Adriatic Sea. The path to the tower’s entrance is full of overgrown bushes and weeds, and the whole facility appears to be neglected and unappreciated.

When it was built around 1808, the tower was a sentinel station for the nearby Fortina Napoleanica, a defensive structure erected by the Italian viceroy Eugenio Behauharnais. The role of the tower and the fort was to prevent the English Navy from approaching the Italian kingdom.

The imposing majestic building maintains its classic, orange-tiled roof but the tower appears to be unmanned now. It is a monument to a feudal past and its only current purpose is to provide a landmark for sun worshippers.

Just south of the tower are dozens of people laying on the white pebble beach, romping in the clear blue water or eating at the small outdoor café. Husbands and boyfriends rub suntan lotion on their already tan wives and girlfriends, many of whom are topless.

It is quiet but for the sounds of the splashing waves and the laughter of children. There are no screeching motorini noises like you hear everywhere else in Italy.

Around the bend, in a secluded alcove due south of the tower, there is an entirely different scene: a nudist beach. It is the most recent, remote beach that the naturalists have claimed their own even though naked sunbathing is prohibited by law in Italy.

“It is forbidden,” says Marco Bravi, an Italian language and culture instructor from Camerano, “but often tolerated by police.”

But only in this one place in the region. For example, nude bathing in Sirolo, a beach town 8 kilometers to the south, reportedly carries a 500 Euro (about $625) penalty.

To find the tolerated nudist beach, you must park your car at the dead end of the road to Portonovo and then walk 15 minutes through thick brush and over rocks toward the old, white stone Santa Maria di Portonovo church.

“You need good shoes,” says Bravi.

When the trail ends, you have to climb over a rock wall using a rope left there just for that purpose.

Of course, you can also find the nudist beach by following the beach line.

Just look for the tower and head south.

- G. MILLER