Low-Key Coastal Town

Check out the beaches in Puglia. Very low-key and beautiful. But hard to get to. That usually goes with "low-key".

Which area? The Italian coast is 8,000km long (5,000 miles) and you can swim everywhere in late June (even early June).

We loved Senigallia on the Adriatic coast. Long golden sand beach with lots of hotels and restaurants near beach, easy access from train station. No car needed.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was wondering if the waters along the Amalfi Coast and Riveria would be a tad chilly in June. I've been in Spain and France in June and the waters there were cold. I've been to Croatia in June and the Adriatic is lovely so perhaps Puglia as a few suggest is the best bet. (We are travelling with our 8-year-old daughter so after seeing all the sites in Rome, Siena and Venice we thought we'd owe her some beach time!)

Not chilly but both at the 5 terre (and most of the Ligurian Riviera) and Amalfi coast the coast is cliffy and rocky with very small pebble beaches. Above all the water depth drops quickly therefore you need to keep an eye on your small girl. The Med is generally calm like a lake, so waves shouldn't be a problem unless it's a rough windy day.

I'm truly not working for the Senigallia tourist board, but it would be a perfect place for an 8-year-old. We were wishing we had our granddaughters with us last October. The beach is wide, with soft sand, and slopes gently into the sea, so you can walk a long ways out into the water before it gets deep. There are no big waves, or rocks under the water. And many beach-front hotels have play areas for children right on the beach. You could sit at a restaurant, on the sand, under an umbrella, with a cool drink while she plays to her heart's content. And then you can have a lovely dinner with fresh homemade pasta and fresh seafood for 10 euros. Senigallia is about 2 hours by train from Bologna, and there are lots of hotels within 10 minutes walking from the train station.

I don't work for any Tourist board, however if your itinerary does not pass anywhere near Senigallia, that's a long way for you to detour to find beaches that could be found virtually anywhere in the Italian Peninsula. For example if you are going to Florence/Pisa/CT, Rome and Naples, going to Senigallia would be a major detour and distance. There are hundreds of miles of beaches and beach towns along the coast between La Spezia and Naples that are way nicer than Senigallia. Puglia has definitely nicer beaches than Senigallia, but also in this case if you are not going anywhere close to Puglia it's a long detour to take just for a day or two at the beach. So the question again is: what is your itinerary? Tell us and I can tell you of plenty of "low key" (whatever that means!) beach locations near your intended itinerary.

Thanks for the suggestions. We are in the very early planning stages of our trip but we are flying in and out of Rome, and at this point considering Siena and Venice. We're looking at domestic flights to get somewhere farther away if need be. But we're completely open at this point. Low-key for me means - quiet, off the beaten path a bit - no casinos, discos, big hotels, hordes of tourists etc. Just somewhere we can chill for 4 or 5 days but absorb the culture too.

The Lido of Venice has a beach, I've been told.