Wintering in Porto di Roma

Created by val. Last modified on 2009-09-04 17:45:42
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Countries: Italy

We completely agree with MEANDER that we enjoyed our stay at Porto di Roma and recommend it. The area for perhaps 2km from the marina SE towards the train station is very disheveled and a trash & graffiti paradise. But, we were rarely out there at night had no problems with it. I'm sorry to hear that their bicycles were stolen but it does not surprise me.

Occasionally we heard that a few items were stolen off of the unlocked flybridge of large powerboats, so I would lock your boat securely and would bring the usual suspects of things that might disappear in the night down below. But it certainly appeared to be much safer than many marinas that we had stayed in.

It was so easy and cheap to get into downtown Rome, and water and electricity were included in the fee, so we felt that it was cheaper than staying on the river north of the marina. Those prices vary considerably so shop around, but at Fiumicino, the boats were usually rafted together and with boat wakes and during occasional winter floods several people that had wintered their said that you must expect to have some damage to your boat. As far as I am aware none of the canal or river marinas include water and electric and many do not have toilets or showers. If you are not living aboard your boat these are not serious problems, but one of our friends who was living aboard his boat found that the cost of the electric to heat his boat and doubled the price of his moorage and made it cost slightly more than our vastly nicer berth in Porto di Roma.

We did have a lot of trouble with the expensive WiFi provided by the marina. I hope that it is better now.

As mentioned there can be a very strong surge in the marina during certain wave conditions, but we feel strongly that the springs are a hazard. You are the captain of your boat and obviously you need to make sure that she is safe at all times. Do not blindly follow this suggestion, but we used double nylon rope for the connection between the boat and shore, and winched the marina provided lazy line in extremely tight. We moved far less than the boats around us that were using springs. We were very still when boats around us were dancing a jig and being damaged. Also we noticed that many of the stainless steel springs had broken, but none of the galvanized springs. If you do use a spring be sure that you have a safety rope or chain in parallel with it that will save your boat in the spring parts.

One of the locals also warned us that in that marina at least one of the lazy lines gets cut every season by an unskilled boat operator coming down the fairway, so add another line from the chain up to your boat. The marina will have a diver do this for a reasonable fee, but we found that if we just extended our lines to shore and pulled up on the lazy line until the chain was at the surface we could add the second line ourselves. One of the major hazards, in our opinion, with Med moor is that usually a single lazy line or anchor line is keeping your boat off of the concrete. The prudent mariner will never rely on a single anything.

While you're there be sure to see Florence. It is stunning. And a quick train ride away.

Dave & Janet
Alegría
Presently in Turkey