A Golden Day at 300 Gradini Beach, Gaeta

Where HBO’s “My Brilliant Friend” was filmed…

300 Gradini, means 300 steps, which is how you get from the road, Via Flacca, to this dreamy stretch of beach clubs. It’s part of a beautiful coastline south of Rome, named The Riviera of Ulisse, as it is said that Circe lured Ulysses and his crew here… and they stayed an entire year.

I was lured to 300 Gradini, by Elena Ferrante’s “Neapolitan Novels” — that led to HBO making an extraordinary series of the first three books — with more to come. In the story, scenes take place at the beach of Cetara in Ischia, but for the series they were filmed at 300 Gradini.

You can’t see the beach from the road, so you get a great gasp of discovery on your walk down, as it slowly appears through the shady pines.

And then there you are on a wide beach of soft white sand, sparkling turquoise water…Imagine Lenu having her swim, Lila and Nino finding secret places among the rocks, Bruno and Pinuccia sneaking away…