Campomarino

This is the beach of Campomarino, Maruggio's seaside village: just over a kilometre of pale sand west of the harbour pier, also called the spiaggia d'Ayala. Almost the whole beachfront is free, the water is shallow and clear and good for children; behind it a ridge of dunes remains.

The village, lived in mainly in summer, grew up in the 20th century around the Torre Moline, a coastal lookout which, with the Palazzo Seminarile, forms the historic core. The harbour, the only fishing and tourist port on the Ionian coast between Taranto and Porto Cesareo, is divided by a central pier into a basin for fishing boats and a marina. Finds from the classical, Roman and late antique periods are known in the waters off the coast.

There are car parks a few hundred metres away. The beach faces south: it is sheltered with north (tramontana), north-east (grecale) and north-west (maestrale) winds, while with south-east (scirocco), south (ostro) and south-west (libeccio) winds the sea gets rough. Maruggio is a Blue Flag municipality. It is part of the Duna di Campomarino Natura 2000 site.