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Discover Tuscia

Bagnaia and the Villa Lante

Bagnaia is a small and charmingly historical town in Northern Lazio just a short distance from Viterbo.
The town is famous for its great relic of aristocratic grandeur, the sixteenth-century Villa Lante.
The Villa Lante is named after the Lante della Rovere family, who owned the estate for three centuries until 1933. Earlier, the property went with the position of Bishop of Viterbo, and it was the holders of this august position who were responsible for the pleasure grounds you can enjoy today.
At the beginning of the 16th Century, Cardinal Raffaele Riario began creating Villa Lante, when he had a wall built to enclose 22 hectares of land.
This came to include a garden and an adjacent hunting reserve, which is now a public park.

Moutan Botanic Centre
Chinese Peonies: a unique collection

The name Moutan came from the term “Mou Dan” or “tree peony” in Chinese and it was chosen as the name for this Centre founded in 1993 following many years of passionate interest in peonies. The initial idea of creating a monothematic garden surrounding a private residence gradually grew into a desire to study the varieties and species of existing Chinese tree peonies; searching for them throughout the most remote regions of Asia, importing them to Europe, gathering them in one place, preserving them, studying them, promoting their diffusion and generally fostering their development.
Today, at the foot of the Cimini mountains to the north of Rome, there is a 15 hectare estate entirely cultivated with Chinese tree peonies: a unique collection with very rare specimens belonging to different botanical species and cultivated, natural hybrids (cultivar) which in many cases cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

Flowering
Each year the beginning of spring marks a unique event at the Moutan Botanic Centre: the flowering of our peonies in an explosion of colour, shapes and scents that attracts thousands of visitors and enthusiasts. Single, semi-double and double blooms in all the colours of the rainbow, ranging from white to deep purple through every shade of pink with their accompanying feast of delicate scents make it a unique experience.
To celebrate the spring flowering during the months of April and May the Moutan Botanic Centre organises free guided tours to allow visitors to see the peonies and reveal some of the secrets of growing them.

Opening Hours
From monday to friday: 9.30am - 1.00pm, 2.30pm - 4.30pm
March: From monday to saturday: 9.30am -1.00pm, 2.30pm - 5.30pm
April and May: from Monday to Friday: 9:30am - 1:00pm, 2:30pm - 6:00pm the Centre is also opened on saturadays, Sundays and Holidays with the following hours: 9:30am - 6:00pm

Web site: Centro Botanico Moutan

S.S. Ortana, 46
01030 Vitorchiano - Viterbo
Tel. 0761.300490

Monti Cimini

Nel territorio della Comunità Montana dei Cimini si realizza un felice incontro tra natura e storia. Situato a nord di Roma, a 10 km da Viterbo, è facilmente raggiungibile attraverso l’autostrada dal Sole, la superstrada Viterbo-Orte e l’antichissima Cassia, oltre che attraverso strade provinciali che collegano tra loro i dieci comuni.

Dell’antica “Selva Cimina” oggi rimangono fitti boschi di querce, frassini, faggi, olmi e castagni, solcati da limpidi ruscelli e fresche fonti ed abitati da numerose specie di animali selvatici quali volpi, faine, donnole, lepri, martore. (Fonte: Comunità Montana dei Monti Cimini)

The Lake of Vico

Lake Vico (Italian Lago di Vico) is a volcanic lake in northern Lazio region, central Italy. It is the highest among major Italian lakes, with its altitude of 510 m. Administratively, it is part of the municipalities of Caprarola and Ronciglione. The Lake is surrounded by the Cimini Hills, in particular by the Fogliano (965 m) and Venere (851 m) Mounts. It is part of the Natural Reserve of Lake Vico. According to the legend, the lake awas created by Hercules, who had defied the local inhabitants to pick up his club. When he did it by himself, a stream sprung and formed the lake. The Lake is in fact a relic of the past volcanic activity of Lazio, originating some 100,000 years ago when an extinguished crater was filled by waters. Before the construction of a tunnel by the hand of Etruscans, the lake had probably a double surface than today, the Monte Venere contistuting an island within it. The Lake has one emissary, the Rio Vicano. It is famous for its extensive beech forest which is one of the most southerly in Europe. The elevation plus the surrounding walls of the crater apparently supply cool enough conditions for the continued survival of beeches here. A large part of the northern side of the crater is a natural preserve to protect this forest.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Lake of Bolsena

Lake Bolsena is a crater lake of central Italy, of volcanic origin, which was formed 370,000 years ago following the collapse of a caldera of the Vulsini volcanic complex.
Roman historic records indicate activity of the Vulsini volcano occurred as recently as 104 BC, since when it has been dormant. The two islands in the southern part of the lake have been formed by underwater eruptions following the initial collapse of the caldera. The lake has an oval shape typical of crater lakes. Its total surface is 113.5 km²; the altitude of its surface is 305 m; it is 151 m deep at its lowest point and 81 m deep on average.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Lake of Martignano

The lake was known in the antiquity with the name of Alseatinus, and from the north side of the lake departs the homonym aqueduct, built by Emperor Augustus to supply the water games in Rome-Trastevere. Still today the entrance of this aqueduct is visible on the shore. Bathing is permitted and one of the two farms has a restaurant too.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Lake of Bracciano

Lake Bracciano is a lake of volcanic origin in the Italian region of Lazio, 32 km northwest of Rome.
With a surface of 56.76 km² it is the second largest lake in the region (second only to Lake Bolsena) and one of the major lakes of Italy.
It has a circular perimeter of approximately 32 km; its surface is 160 meters above sea level and its deepest point is 165 m. The lake owes its origin to intense volcanic activity from 600,000 to 40,000 years before present, which created many small volcanoes in the Sabatino territory. The main magma chamber was situated under the present lake of Bracciano. Its collapse created the caldera now occupied by the lake, which is a crater lake. Some small craters are still recognisable around the lake and in the immediate vicinity.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Civita di Bagnoregio

Civita di Bagnoregio is a town in the Province of Viterbo in Central Italy, a frazione of the comune of Bagnoregio, 2 km (about 1 mile) W from it. It is about 145 km (90 mi) north of Rome.
It was founded by Etruscans over twenty-five hundred years ago, has seen its population dwindle to just fifteen residents over the course of the 20th century, and has only recently been experiencing a tourist revival, due in great measure to the American travel guide Rick Steves who popularized it in the 1990s and calls it his favorite hill town.
The town is noted for its striking position atop a plateau of friable volcanic tuff overlooking the Tiber river valley, in constant danger of destruction as its edges fall off, leaving the buildings built on the plateau to crumble. As of 2004, there are plans to reinforce the plateau with steel rods to prevent further geological damage.
The city is also much admired for its architecture, some spanning several thousand years. Civita di Bagnoregio owes much of its unaltered condition to its relative isolation: the town was able to withstand most intrusions of modernity as well as the destruction wrought by two world wars. The town was placed on the World Monuments Fund's 2006 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites, due to the threats it faces from erosion and unregulated tourism.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Capranica

Capranica is located about 50 km northwest of Rome and about 20 km southeast of Viterbo. The medieval village of Capranica offers all sorts of shops and supermarkets as well as a Train station and very good inter-city busses that connect Capranica with Rome and the main cities of Tuscia.

Caprarola - Palazzo Farnese

The Villa Farnese, also known as Palazzo Farnese or Villa Caprarola, is a mansion in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo, Northern Latium, Italy approximately 50 kilometres (35 miles) north-west of Rome.
It should not be confused with the Palazzo Farnese and the Villa Farnesina, both in Rome. The Villa Farnese is a massive Renaissance construction built circa 1550, opening to the Monte Cimini, a range of densely wooded volcanic hills. It has a five-sided plant, and is built in reddish gold stone; buttress support the piano nobile above, with two floors above again housing an almost complete two storey villa in itself. As a power house at the center of vast Farnese holdings, it has always been more than a villa in the ordinary agricultural or pleasure senses.
The shape of the villa was predetermined by the rocca, the pentagonal fortress foundations it sits upon, which were constructed in the 1520s by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Baldassare Peruzzi. Each face of the pentagon is canted inwards towards its center, to permit raking fire upon a would-be scaling force, both from the center and from the projecting bastions that advance from each corner angle of the fortress.
It is thought that the circular central courtyard was also determined by the necessities of the pentagonal plan.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Sutri - Etruscan necropolis

Sutri is a town in the province of Viterbo, about 50 km from Rome. It is picturesquely situated on a narrow tuff hill, surrounded by ravines, a narrow neck on the west alone connecting it with the surrounding country. Entrance to the amphitheatre of Sutri. Entrance to the amphitheatre of Sutri.
The modern comune of Sutri has a few more than 5,000 inhabitants.
It ancient remains are a major draw for tourism: a Roman amphitheatre excavated in the tuff rock, an Etruscan necropolis with dozens of rock-cut tombs, a Mithraeum incorporated in the crypt of its church of the Madonna del Parto, a Romanesque Duomo.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Ronciglione

Ronciglione is a city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio (central Italy), c. 20 km from Viterbo.
The city is located in the Cimini mountains, over two tuff scarps, on the SE slope of the former volcano crater now housing the Vico's Lake.

Ronciglione is famous for its Carnival, one of the most important in the Lazio. It was born as a derivative of the Renaissance Carnival of Rome. It has typical "empty races" in which the horses are left to run without riders. The cities are divided into 9 contrades which contend for the "Palio of the Manna".

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Soriano nel Cimino

The town of Soriano nel Cimino is located in the province of Viterbo. It is 8 miles from Italy's primary expressway (The A1) that connects Rome and Florence, at about 37 miles north of Rome (45 miles, 50 minutes driving) and about 90 miles south of Florence. It is in the region of Latium (Lazio), about 4 miles from of the border with Umbria, and 24 miles (30 - 35 min. drive) southeast of the Tuscany border.

The lucky hilly position, the mild climate, the wood's healthy air, together with its history, arts and tradition, make Soriano nel Cimino the ideal place where to spend a serene and pleasant stay or a vacation in every season.

Main sights:

  • The Castel of Orsini (built by Popee Nicholas III in 1278)

  • The Chigi-Albani Palace and the Papacqua Fountain (1561 AD)

  • The church of Saint Nicolas of Bari " (The Main Cathedral) (1794 AD)

  • The church of Saint Eutizio (1718 AD) and the Inner Fountain (~1400 AD)

  • The church of Saint George ( ~1000 AD)

Bomarzo - Park of the Monsters

Bomarzo's main attraction is a garden usually referred to as the Bosco Sacro (Sacred grove) or, locally, Bosco dei Mostri ("Monsters' Grove"), named for the many larger-than-life sculptures, some sculpted in the bedrock, which populate this predominantly barren landscape. A sphinx at the entrance of the Park of the Monsters.
A sphinx at the entrance of the Park of the Monsters. It is the work of Pier Francesco Orsini, called Vicino (1528–1588), a hunchback condottiero and patron of the arts, greatly devoted to his wife Giulia Farnese (daughter of Galeazzo Farnese Duke of Latera, not to be confused with Giulia Farnese); when she died, he created the gardens.
The design that has been attributed to Pirro Ligorio, a well known architect of the time.

The park is open all year.
For information contact directly the park on telephone number +39-761924029.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Nepi

Nepi (anciently Nepet or Nepete) is a town and comune in Italy in the province of Viterbo, region of Latium.
The town lies 40 km from the city of Viterbo and about 13 km southwest from Civita Castellana. As of 2005, there were 8,438 inhabitants.
Nepet had become Roman before 386 BC, when Livy speaks of it and Sutrium as the keys of Etruria. In that year it was surrendered to the Etruscans and recovered by the Romans, who beheaded the authors of its surrender. It became a colony in 383 BC It was among the twelve Latin colonies that refused further help to Rome in 209 BC After the Social War it became a municipium. It is hardly mentioned in imperial times, except as a station on the road (Via Amerina) which diverged from the Via Cassia near the modern Settevene and ran to Ameria and Tuder. In the 8th century AD it was for a short while the seat of a duchy.

Main sights:

  • Borgia castle, a 15th century reconstruction of a feudal manor. It has massive walls and four towers, one of which visitable.

  • Cathedral of the Assunta, built in the 12th century over a pagan temple. It has been rebuilt in 1831 after the French troops had set it on fire during the Napoleonic Wars. Of the ancient structure the crypt remains, which includes the primitive pagan altar

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Civita Castellana

Civita Castellana is a town in the province of Viterbo, 65 km from the city of Rome. Mount Soracte lies about 10 km to the south-east.
Main sights:

  • The cathedral of Santa Maria di Pozzano possesses a fine portico, erected in 1210 by Laurentius Romanus, his son Jacobus and his grandson Cosmas, in the Cosmatesque style, with ancient columns and mosaic decorations. The right portal has a rare example of Early Middle Ages Germanic figurative art, portraying a boar hunt. The interior was modernized in the 18th century, but has some fragments of cosmatesque ornamentation. The high altar is made out of a Paleo-Christian sarcophagus of the 3rd or 4th century. The ancient crpyt and the old sacristy are also interesting.

  • The church of Santa Chiara was a Renaissance portal from 1529, while the Church of the Carmine has a noteworthy, small belltower from the 12th century, including antique Roman elements.

  • The Rocca (citadel) was erected by Alexander VI from the designs of Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, over pre-existing fortifications, and enlarged by Julius II and Leo X.

  • Ponte Clementino, the bridge by which the town is approached, dates to the 18th century. The town also contains the ruins of the Castle of Paterno, where, on 23 January 1002, the Emperor Otto III died at the age of 22.

  • The National Archaeological Museum contains findings from

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Viterbo

Viterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 100 kilometers (60 mi) north of Rome on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and Monti Volsini. The historic center of the city is surrounded by medieval walls, still intact, built during the 11th and 12th centuries.

Main sights:

Viterbo's historic center is one of the best preserved medieval towns of central Italy. Many of the older buildings (particularly churches) are built on top of ancient ruins, recognizable by their large stones, 50 centimeters to a side. The main attraction of Viterbo is the Papal Palace (Palazzo dei Papi), that served as a country residence and a repair in time of trouble in Rome. The columns of the palace are spolia from a Roman temple. The second most important monument of the city is the Cathedral of S. Lorenzo. It was erected in Romanesque style by Lombard architects over a temple of Hercules. It was variously rebuilt from the 16th century on, and was heavily damaged in 1944 by Allied bombs. The notable Gothic belfry is from the first half of the 14th century, and shows influence of Senese artists. The church houses the sarcophagus of Pope John XXI and the picture Christ Blessing by Gerolamo da Cremona (1472).

Other notable monuments are:

  • The Palazzo Comunale (begun 1460), Palazzo del Podestà (1264) and Palazzo della Prefettura (rebuilt 1771) on the central square Piazza del Plebiscito. The Palazzo Comunale houses a series of 16th century and Baroque frescoes by Tarquinio Ligustri, Bartolomeo Cavarozzi and others.

  • The small Gothic church of Santa Maria della Salute, which has a rich portal.

  • The Romanesque Chiesa del Gesù (11th century). Here the sons of Simon de Montfort stabbed to death Henry of Almain, son of Richard of Cornwall.

  • The Palazzo Farnese (14th-15th century), where Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paulus III, lived in his youth together with his beautiful sister, Giulia Farnese.

  • The Rocca (castle).

  • The Romanesque churches of Santa Maria Nuova (12th century), San Sisto (second half of the 9th century), and San Giovanni in Zoccoli (11th century).

  • The Palazzo degli Alessandri in the old district, a typical patrician house of Middle Ages Viterbo.

  • The Fontana Grande, began in 1206.

  • The Gothic church of San Francesco, built over a pre-existing Lombard fortress. It has a single nave with Latin cross plan. It houses the sepulchre of Pope Adrian V, who died in Viterbo on August 17, 1276, considered the first monument by Arnolfo di Cambio.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)