A wakeboarder skimming across flat water behind a towline On the water

Kayaking the Cavata river under Sermoneta

Sermoneta

The Cavata comes out of the ground at the foot of the Lepini and runs clear across the flat Agro Pontino, with Sermoneta up on its hill above and the Monticchio tower standing out in the fields.

How the day goes

  1. Kayaks in at the spring, where the water is coldest and clearest.
  2. Downstream between banks of reed, the hill town in sight behind you.
  3. Flat, quiet paddling with the Lepini rising along one side.
  4. Out at the end, with Sermoneta up the road if you want the castle too.

Easy water all the way, which is the point of it; anyone hoping for rapids should look at the mountain rivers instead.

Where it is

Sermoneta at its real position from Rome, with everywhere else we list behind it — so you can see how far out this one is.

Sermoneta, and where it is from Rome Sermoneta drawn at its real position relative to Rome, about 97 minutes by car. The faint dots are the other places we list, so you can see how far out this one is. 97 min Rome Sermoneta

Open it where the roads are

Takes you to Sermoneta — the town, not the meeting point. Ask them where exactly to turn up; the number is on this page.

Getting there

Getting there, the comfortable way

  • 1 h 37drive from the middle of Rome
  • 87 kmeach way
  • 3 honce you are there
  • Rent a car for the day

    The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.

    • You pick it up in Rome and drop it back in Rome
    • No timetable to build the day around
    • The stops on the way are the good part, and they need a car

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Localrent
  • Have a driver take you, door to door

    No parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.

    • Picked up where you are staying, dropped back there
    • No parking to find and no ZTL to worry about
    • Nobody spends the day driving

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Welcome Pickups

Also around Sermoneta

Sermoneta On the trail

Caetani Castle in Sermoneta

Visit to the medieval fortress that dominates the hill town of Sermoneta, run by the same foundation that owns the Garden of Ninfa.

See the day
Sermoneta On the trail

Valvisciolo Abbey with a licensed guide

Guided tour of the Cistercian abbey below Sermoneta, including the church, the cloister and the Templar symbolism carved there.

See the day
The deck of a sailing yacht under way, crew along the rail On the water

Canoe on the Cavata river plus tasting

A canoe trip starting at the springs of the Cavata river below the medieval town of Sermoneta, paddling five kilometres along the edge of the Monticchio spring-water nature monu…

See the day

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We have not verified this one yet. Everything below comes from the operator and we have not checked it — treat it as a lead, not as a listing.

Photograph by Pablo Vaz, Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 3.0. Not this place: it shows what the day looks like, and will be replaced with the operator's own photograph or ours from the field.

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