Towns
Most of the towns around Rome are on top of something — a tufo spur, a crater rim, a limestone ridge — because for a thousand years that was the only sensible place to live.
50 things to book24 placesthe nearest is a 33 min drive from Rome
The hill town is the default shape of settlement in this part of Italy, and there are hundreds of them within two hours of Rome. A handful are famous: Civita di Bagnoregio, reached only by a footbridge and losing a little of its cliff every year; Calcata, abandoned in the 1930s and reoccupied by artists; Sermoneta under its Caetani castle.
The rest are not, and that is the point of this page. What we list here are the ones where you can actually book something — a guided walk through the old town, a visit to what is under it, a cellar, a workshop — rather than turning up and looking at walls.
A hill town is a half day, not a whole one, and knowing that is what stops the day going wrong. Most of these are twenty minutes to walk end to end. What fills the rest of the afternoon is the thing underneath or beside the town — a cellar, a cave, a necropolis, a workshop, a mill — which is what the cards on this page are, and why the page lists towns where something is bookable rather than every town on a hill.
The five groups below are five different rocks and they look completely different. The Castelli are volcanic and green, with the lakes underneath. The Tuscia is tufo — golden, soft, carved, with tombs and sunken roads around every town. The Sabina and the Aniene are grey stone and terraces. The Lepini and the Ciociaria are limestone, higher and harder, with walls nobody can date. Pick the rock and the day follows.
Arrive early or arrive late. In the middle of the day the shops shut, the church closes and the town goes quiet for two hours — which is charming once and frustrating if it is the two hours you drove for. The evening is when a hill town is at its best, and it is the argument for a night rather than a day in the ones further out.
Worth the crowds, and all of them are day trips rather than stops. Go early: by eleven the footbridge to Civita has a queue on it.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
Under the groundTurn up, pay at the door, and climb down an Etruscan well and its caves.
€5 per person
Books on orvietobooking.com
See the day
With your handsAn organic estate at Colletonno, near Anagni, producing Cesanese del Piglio DOCG.
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With your handsThe estate produces Cesanese del Piglio DOCG and takes visitors for a tasting and direct sales on site.
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On two wheelsA guided ride of about 25 km on a semi-loop from Camping Europing in Tarquinia to Montalto di Castro, crossing the seasonal Arrone stream and taking in the old town of Montalto …
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With your handsA family farm below Caprarola on the Cimini hills that grows hazelnuts and makes creams, spreads, mostarde and biscuits in its own laboratory.
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Under the groundA guided visit to the rooms under the former convent of San Domenico: a frescoed church, a Roman cistern and the cell used by the Holy Office, whose graffiti are still being res…
A sports club — you join them for the day
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With your handsA working winery at Bardano, on the hills facing Orvieto, in a farmstead that belonged to the Templars.
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With your handsThe same Bartolomei oils as at the Montecchio mill, tasted in the middle of Orvieto's old town between the Duomo and the Torre del Moro.
See the day
With your handsA hands-on Umbrian cooking class held at the Decugnano dei Barbi estate outside Orvieto, capped at twelve people so everyone actually cooks.
See the day
With your handsA private, appointment-only tour of a hillside estate 25 minutes from Orvieto, where wine has been made since 1212.
See the dayFifteen of them on the volcano rim, close enough together to string two into one afternoon, and each one with a different thing it is known for — the palace, the porchetta, the strawberries, the wine.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
With your handsMake the pasta at a Frascati winery: 22 minutes by train, picked up at the station.
€109 per person
Books on farmexperiencestours.com
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On the trailClip into a harness and cross the trees: from age four there is a course to do.
€5 per person
Books on ViviAvventura
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On the trailA Greek-rite abbey founded in 1004 by monks from southern Italy led by St Nilus of Rossano, the last of the Byzantine monasteries that were once spread across southern Italy and…
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With your handsThe estate sits in an eighteenth-century casale on a hill at Monte Porzio Catone, thirty hectares of Frascati DOCG vineyard in front and the skyline of Rome beyond.
See the day
With your handsA private visit that starts in the vineyard and ends in the eighteenth-century rooms of the estate, led by a dedicated sommelier or by the owners.
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On the trailThe Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo was opened to the public in 2014.
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With your handsA guided tour of a Frascati winery built around a 16th-century villa, including the vineyards and the historic volcanic cave used as a cellar, followed by a tasting.
See the day
With your handsA family estate on the edge of Frascati that makes Frascati wine and extra-virgin olive oil and has a page of its own devoted to events and tastings, alongside pages on the cell…
See the day
With your handsA walk through the vineyard, then the cellar and the barrel room of an organic Frascati estate, ending with a guided tasting of four De Sanctis wines.
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With your handsAn organic estate on the hills at Frascati working the native Frascati DOCG grapes — Malvasia del Lazio, Greco Bianco, Bombino.
See the dayBuilt out of the rock they stand on, with Etruscan tombs underneath and sunken roads cut through the stone around them. The strangest landscape within an hour and a half of Rome.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
In the hot waterFive hours in a thermal park, and cold weather is the reason to go.
€25 per person
Books on termedistigliano.it
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In the hot waterThe 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
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In the hot waterFive hours in thermal water up to 58°C and nothing else to plan that day.
€12 per person
Books on tusciaterme.it
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In the hot waterA three-hour late-afternoon slot in the Stigliano thermal park, from 17:00 to 20:00, that combines the pools and thermal lakes with an aperitivo.
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In the hot waterA full day, 10:00 to 20:00, with access to the whole spa and the outdoor thermal park.
See the day
In the hot waterDay access to the outdoor thermal park at Stigliano, in the countryside of Canale Monterano about 50 km from Rome.
See the day
In the hot waterA five-hour morning slot, 10:00 to 15:00, with the sauna, salt room, infrared rooms, cold chamber, sensory showers, the heated indoor pool, the thermal basin and the outdoor the…
See the day
With your handsA ten-hour day out of Rome with a private driver: your choice between Caprarola with the Farnese palace or Sutri with the Roman amphitheatre and Etruscan necropolis, then an oli…
See the day
On the trailA collection of tree and herbaceous peonies laid out as a garden below Vitorchiano, in flower from the end of March to the end of May: the single-flowered shrubs first, then the…
See the day
In the hot waterThe thermal spa of the Salus Terme hotel on the edge of Viterbo, bookable for the day without staying overnight.
See the dayStone villages up the Tiber and up the Aniene: Farfa's abbey, Greccio where the Christmas crib was invented, Subiaco's monasteries stuck to a cliff. Green, cool, and the least touristed direction out of Rome.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
Down the riverFive kilometres down the Aniene. Helmet and paddle included, shuttle to the start.
€25 per person
Books on viverelaniene.com
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In the hot waterSulphur pools open till 18:30, and the operator publishes the train to get there.
€12 per person
Books on Terme Sabine di Cretone
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With your handsA Sabina DOP oil producer that opens its mill and its centuries-old groves to visitors with a tasting.
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With your handsA walk through the olive groves, a visit to the olive mill and a tasting session, run by a Sabina oil producer.
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With your handsA walk among DOP Sabina and IGP Olio di Roma olive trees where a technician explains the native cultivars, then the mill where the extraction is shown step by step, and finally …
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On horsebackThe farm runs teaching days for children, families and school groups built around its horses and its farm animals.
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With your handsA hands-on day picking olives in the Sabina hills, followed by sorting and selecting the fruit to be sent for milling.
See the day
With your handsA walk through an organic olive grove with the farmer, covering the farming year from pruning to harvest, then an interactive tasting of four Italian extra virgin olive oils led…
See the day
With your handsAn evening at an organic olive farm in the Sabina: a walk through the grove, a guided tasting of the farm's oils and a light supper with olive oil pairings and drinks.
See the day
With your handsA longer day at the farm: the history of the estate and its year-round organic methods, an extended tasting of a range of Italian oils, and lunch.
See the dayTowns hung off the side of limestone mountains between Rome and Naples, with cyclopean walls that nobody can securely date and views down to the sea.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
Under the groundWalk into the hill on wet steps, in a guided group of no more than twelve.
€10 per person
Books on grottepastenacollepardo.it
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In the airA 2,225-metre steel cable strung between two pylons above Rocca Massima, up to 310 metres off the ground, with a 350-metre drop.
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In the airA two-kilometre zipline descent from Rocca Massima at over 110 km/h, over olive groves and karst country down towards Monte Sant'Angelo, packaged with a guided cellar visit and …
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With your handsTasting of three wines from the native Nero Buono and Bellone grapes, served with bruschetta, cheeses and cured meats, at the cooperative founded in Cori in 1947.
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With your handsGuided tour through the vineyard and the barrel cellar, then a tasting of the sparkling wine and the two DOC wines of the house, served with local food products.
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With your handsA walk through the vineyards and a guided visit of the cellar of an organic estate at Cori, followed by a tasting of three wines paired with local products.
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With your handsA three-hour terracotta workshop in the studio of the artist Martino Antocchi: mixing clay, learning basic modelling, making natural engobe colours and burnishing with olive oil…
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On horsebackA horse ride through the woods above Cori or among the estate vineyards, with the Fontana del Prato riding school, followed by a guided cellar visit and tasting.
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On the trailA botanical garden at Collepardo that gathers the wild plants of the Ernici mountains, including rare species kept from extinction.
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In the airTandem paragliding flight from the take-off site at Norma, on the edge of the Lepini mountains, over the Pontine plain and towards the sea.
See the dayDriving time from the middle of Rome, on the road network and without traffic. It tells you whether the day stands up; it is not a timetable.
Getting there
The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.
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 LocalrentNo parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.
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 PickupsIn the Castelli Romani, easily — they are ten minutes apart. Anywhere else, one town and one thing to do in it is a better day than two towns and a lot of parking.
Yes, and go before ten or after five. It is small enough to walk in twenty minutes, so build the day around something else nearby — Bolsena, Orvieto and Lubriano are all close.
Civita di Bagnoregio on its eroding pinnacle, Calcata on its tufo spur, Sermoneta under its castle, Anagni for the papal palace and the crypt, Orvieto over the border, and the fifteen Castelli towns half an hour from the city. The grids above are the ones where you can book something rather than only look.
The Castelli Romani — Frascati, Grottaferrata, Monte Porzio Catone and Monte Compatri are all around half an hour's drive, and several are on a railway line. They are also the ones with the most to do once you are there.
The Castelli and a handful of others are on lines out of Rome, and where an operator has told us you can reach them without a car, their activity page says so. For the Tuscia, the Lepini and the Sabina a car or a driver is what makes the day, because the towns are on separate hills with valleys between them.
Two, comfortably, if they are the Castelli and ten minutes apart. One, anywhere else — a town and one thing to do in it beats two towns and a lot of parking. That is the single most common way a good day out of Rome turns into a mediocre one.
What is underneath it and what is made in it: cellars, caves, catacombs, workshops, mills, museums and guided walks with somebody who lives there. Every card on this page is one of those, which is why the page lists fewer towns than exist.
Spring and autumn for the walking and the light, early morning or evening in summer, and any clear winter day for the ones with a view — the air after rain in January is the clearest of the year. Avoid the middle of the day, when a small town shuts.
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