Video:Tips for Visiting Civitavecchia

Transcript:Tips for Visiting Civitavecchia

Hi, I'm Gina Miller, and today for About.com we are going to go over tips for visiting Civitavecchia in Italy.

Getting to Civitavecchia

Civitavecchia is one of the most popular shipping ports in Italy. Located close to Rome, it's a great place for cruise ships to land and visit Rome for the day, so it's a bit more tourist-oriented than other Italian cities. However, the city does have a history and some interesting sights. Getting to Civitavecchia is easy by ship, train or car. However, the streets are very congested and parking is almost impossible so driving can be quite frustrating. You can start your day with a stroll to the city's open market. You'll find vendors selling clothing, vegetables, fruit and of course fresh seafood is on center stage.

Great Seafood in Civitavecchia

Being a port town, one of the major industries if fishing, and here you'll find some of the best seafood restaurants anywhere in Italy. Civitavecchia is a very historic city with some fantastic 16th century artwork, but since it's also a tourist-oriented city, you can find some modern artwork that you usually don't see in other Italian cities.

Visit Fort Michelangelo in Civitavecchia

Finally, you'll want to visit Fort Michelangelo. This fort was commissioned to be built in the early 16th century but remained unfinished until Pope Paul III had Michelangelo design and build the tower. It's located near the cruise ship port and it's very close to major hotels. Here's a tip: if you're going to stay overnight in the city, ask for a "sea view" room. Sunset over the Mediterranean is amazing and the view from a non-"sea view" room is, well, not very pleasant.

And those are tips for visiting Civitavecchia. Thanks for watching, and for more information, visit us online at About.com.