Viterbo On the trail

Museum of the Santa Rosa porters, Viterbo

Viterbo

Once a year a tower of light is carried through Viterbo on the shoulders of men who train for it, at night, along streets barely wider than the thing itself. This is where you find out how that is even possible.

How the day goes

  1. Models of the Macchine that have been built, carried and retired over the years.
  2. Films and photographs of the lift, and the gear the porters wear to do it.
  3. Free to walk into, and round the corner from the medieval quarter.

Where it is

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

Viterbo, and where it is from Rome Viterbo drawn at its real position relative to Rome, about 91 minutes by car. The faint dots are the other places we list, so you can see how far out this one is. 91 min Rome Viterbo

Open it where the roads are

Takes you to Viterbo — 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 31drive from the middle of Rome
  • 108 kmeach way
  • 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 Viterbo

A large open-air thermal pool ringed by loungers and parasols, seen from above In the hot water

Terme dei Papi monumental pool

The water leaves the ground at 58°C, and on Saturday you can still be in it at 1am.

€12 per person

Books on termedeipapi.it

See the day
Steaming hot-spring cascades over white rock beside an old stone mill In the hot water

Bullicame free hot springs

58°C out of the ground, free, 209 metres from the bus stop, and no changing room.

Free — nothing to pay

Booked by phone

See the day
Steam rising from natural hot pools In the hot water

Tuscia Terme thermal park

Five hours in thermal water up to 58°C and nothing else to plan that day.

€12 per person

Books on tusciaterme.it

See the day

More on the trail

A stony ridge path across open highland On the trail

Monte Soratte from Sant'Oreste

6.8 km and 691 metres of climbing, with a guide and never more than ten of you.

€49 per person

Books on Nature of Sal — Salvatore Benintende

See the day
A child in a harness crossing a rope bridge between trees On the trail

A morning in the trees

Clip into a harness and cross the trees: from age four there is a course to do.

€5 per person

Books on ViviAvventura

See the day

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 Lascu Florin, Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 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.

Links marked affiliate pay us a commission — you pay the operator's own price and we never take your money. How we rank