Fregene (Rome's wannabe St. Tropez)

Fregene holds a special place in my heart. For those of you not familiar with Rome, Fregene is a beach village about 40 minutes from Rome, not far from the airport. Its proximity to Rome, makes it an ideal place for people to commute during the Summer months, if one has property there or rents for the Summer. Prices are ridiculously high, which is why I make reference to St. Tropez, even though renting is not so expensive overthere! My love affair with Fregene began about 8 years ago when a friend took me to dinner. I then started going to the beach there, and continue to do so today. Fregene is also the place I fell in love with my husband, and the place where we spent several Summers. It was our place for summertime aperitivos and dinners by the shore and endless Summer fun. Today I look at it in a different way, since now we go there with baby. Our needs changed, and we no longer frequent the old kiosks and free beaches, but seek out beaches which offer a baby pool and a child friendly atmosphere. Having broken up with the "stabilamento" where we went last year, this year we are trying to find a new beach which we all like, and it has not been easy. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like the last place, named after a Brazilian city, was that great. It has a nice atmosphere, a salt-water pool, and friendly (ok, fake friendly) owners. Their gimmick was calling you by your first name, so it seemed like we were all old friends. The truth is, they made these dear friends pay big time for some of the silliest things. Other than rent the standard two sun chairs and umbrella, we often had lunch at the restaurant, many times with friends who would come visit us, we would spend money left, right, and center and not really worry about it. Often the bill would seem a little too high, and I would give the owner a piece of my mind about that, and in turn they would watch it a little more. Recently, after going back during the winter and paying heavily, and going back this Summer only to be charged for a baby's meal when all they did was boil the pasta I gave, seemed a little too much. This is considering we had spent the day at the beach, had lunch at the restaurant, and had 3 bottles of wine and 3 pizzas as an aperitivo when a few of our friends dropped by. This was the last straw, hence the break up.

We have visited two other places since:
Delfino - nice has a pool, umbrellas are spaced properly so you are not stuck to your neighbors. Restaurant is good and not bad value for money.
Capri - a lot bigger than Delfino, has two pools, a children's pool and an adult pool. Big play area for kids, good restaurant. Umbrellas very well spaced out.

A round up of Fregene restaurants and beaches to follow.