As Mussolini’s drainage campaign steam-rollered its way across the Pontine marshes in 1934, conservationists took steps to save a corner of a unique environment. They created the Parco Nazionale di Circeo, so-called because ruins on a headland along the Park’s seaward border were associated with Circe, the charmer who turned men into swine, in the Odyssey. The conservationists failed to halt the post-1945 spread of roads and villas along the coast, but since 1974 building development has been brought under control. The Pontine island of Zannone, 32 km offshore, is included in the Park.

This antediluvian botanical survival takes in lakes, mountain and forest. To reach the higher ground you must tread difficult paths through cork and holm oak woods. It is easier to get along on the seaward side, which is mostly heathland with juniper, palmettos and wild flowers, especially wallflowers. Many uncommon birds, including sheldrakes, ospreys and grebes, frequent the lakes on the sea’s edge, while secluded ponds in the woods are the watering holes of roe deer, badgers, wild cats and pine martens. Keen walkers, botanists and ornithologists could spend a few days here, staying at one of the two townships on the edge of the Park, Sabaudia and San Felice Circeo