Rocca San Giovanni Marina

Rocca San Giovanni Marina sits on the heart of the Costa dei Trabocchi, a stretch of coast where wooden fishing platforms on stilts still reach out over the water. The beach here is a mix of fine shingle and sand beneath low cliffs, and it's flanked by several well-preserved trabocchi, some of which now operate as seasonal restaurants, making the platforms as much a part of the view as the beach itself.

Rocca San Giovanni's hilltop old town looks down over one of the most concentrated stretches of trabocchi on the Abruzzo coast, including examples like Trabocco Punta Cavalluccio, whose spidery wooden arms and platforms have become one of the most photographed sights on this part of the Adriatic. The beach below alternates between shingle and patches of sand, set beneath low sandstone cliffs typical of the Trabocchi Coast.\n\nSeveral of the trabocchi near Rocca San Giovanni have been converted into summer restaurants, serving fish caught using the platforms' traditional net-and-winch system, and eating dinner out over the water on one of these structures is one of the signature experiences of this stretch of coast. The beach itself has a handful of stabilimenti offering sunbed rental alongside free sections, without the density of concessions found at bigger resort towns further north.\n\nThe Sentiero Verde della Costa dei Trabocchi, a walking and cycling path built along a disused railway line, runs directly past Rocca San Giovanni Marina, linking it to San Vito Chietino, Fossacesia and other beaches on this stretch, so it's easy to base here and explore the coast on foot or by bike.

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