Miglio Marino Memorial Nazzareno Bamonti

The Miglio Marino Memorial Nazzareno Bamonti is an open water sea swimming competition held in Porto D'Ascoli, along the coastline of the Marche region in central Italy. Included in the Circuito Adriatico Acque Libere, the gathering invites distance swimmers to test their speed over an authentic nautical standard. Competitors take on the classic open sea challenge across a course measuring exactly 1,852 meters. Held in June, the event takes advantage of early summer conditions when the Adriatic warms and the wide coastline opens up for competition. Setting off from the sand and navigating between the turn buoys, swimmers experience the rhythm of the open sea alongside a coastline steeped in maritime heritage.

Bamonti's mile along the Porto d'Ascoli shore

The Miglio Marino memorial is named for Nazzareno Bamonti, who devised the race, and its finish lies in front of the Nettuno chalet of Porto d'Ascoli, whose owner Enrica Ciabattoni is a relative of his. In the 2024 edition the 1,852 metres ran between beach concession 66 and concession 109, from north to south. The race page of the circuit describes the swim as running parallel to the coast, beyond the barrier of rocks, for a total of 1,852 metres. In 2026 Stefano Traini won the men's race and Chiara Spinozzi the women's race of the eleventh memorial. The Pool Nuoto San Benedetto club entered the most swimmers in 2026, 13 of them, ahead of Albatros Nuoto Gioia of Ascoli with 12.

Riserva Naturale Sentina and the Tronto river mouth

About one kilometer from the race area, the coastal landscape is deeply shaped by the Tronto river. Originating in the Monti della Laga mountain range, the river journeys for 115 kilometers across the Italian peninsula before emptying into the Adriatic Sea. At the mouth of the Tronto river, about one kilometer from the event site, lies the Riserva naturale regionale Sentina. Covering 177.5 hectares, this brackish marshland preserves one of the few remaining sandy beaches along the Adriatic coast with an undeveloped hinterland. In the waters fronting the reserve, the seabed consists of an unspoiled blend of sand and pebbles. While strong northeasterly winds can activate an energetic beach break favored by local surfers, calmer weather leaves the coastal shallows quiet and wild. The reserve also serves as a crucial stopover for migratory birds traveling between the Po Delta and the Gargano promontory.

Watchtowers and frontier markers along the Tronto

At the mouth of the Tronto river, the landscape served for centuries as a strategic boundary separating the Papal States from the Kingdom of Naples. About two kilometers from the race area, standing inside the Sentina reserve, is the Torre sul Porto. Built between 1543 and 1547, the structure functioned as a coastal watchtower designed to detect and defend against incoming Saracen raids. Just across the river mouth, about three kilometers from the race area, stands its southern counterpart, the Torre di Martinsicuro. Commissioned in 1547 by Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo and designed by the military architect Pedro Luis Escrivà, the tower and its surrounding settlement took their name from Captain Martin da Seguera, who directed the construction work.

The fortress formed part of a regional coastal defense system against Saracen incursions, which struck with particular force during the summer of 1556. The historic river border remained recognized well into the nineteenth century, underscored in 1847 when stone boundary marker number 649 was erected at the river mouth to delineate the frontier between the Papal States and the Bourbon Kingdom.

Castrum Sancti Benedicti and the ancient coastline

About four kilometers from the race venue, the shoreline connects to older settlements at Castrum Sancti Benedicti. Archaeological excavations in 2010 brought to light a Roman maritime villa dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, complete with hydraulic conduits and mosaic floors. Rising above the site is the Torre dei Gualtieri, a hexagonal watchtower built in the twelfth century and modified in the fourteenth century. Of the medieval defensive complex, the Porta da Mare survives today as the only original monumental gate that remains partially preserved. The perimeter walls were substantially rebuilt and reinforced in brick between 1479 and 1482 to withstand potential assaults from the armies of Sultan Mehmed II. The community began shifting its focus from the fortified heights down toward the water in 1615, when the construction of the Madonna della Marina church outside the walls initiated the growth of the coastal town.

Riviera delle Palme: open-air piers and deep-sea paranze

The seaside expansion eventually created the Marina district, which took shape as a dedicated fishing settlement during the eighteenth century. In 1809, the harbor community operated two dozen sailing trawlers known as paranze alongside a dozen rowboats, with crews manually dragging every vessel onto the sand. Local fishermen soon embraced modern maritime engineering: in May 1912, the San Marco became the first motor-powered fishing boat in Italy, used to transport catches quickly from the open sea back to shore. Although the local fleet suffered during World War II, losing ten fishing boats while seventeen others were captured by Allied forces, the maritime industry rebuilt and expanded. By the 1970s, the port supported thirty oceanic vessels working remote international fishing grounds off Liberia, Peru, Brazil, the Gulf of Guinea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf.

Today, this stretch of coast is known as the Riviera delle Palme, extending past neighboring Grottammare, which features a coastline roughly five kilometers long. The waterfront promenade in San Benedetto del Tronto was designed by engineer Luigi Onorati in 1931 and opened in 1932. Thousands of palm trees line the boulevards, primarily Phoenix canariensis, Washingtonia, and Phoenix sylvestris. Along the southern pier of San Benedetto del Tronto, visitors can walk through an open-air art museum featuring 145 works, including 135 sculptures and 10 murals. About four kilometers from the race area on the waterfront stands the cylindrical San Benedetto del Tronto Lighthouse, built in 1957. Its lantern sits 31 meters above sea level and emits two white flashes every 10 seconds, projecting a beam visible across the water up to 22 nautical miles, and up to 32 nautical miles from its halogen lamp.