An hour out
An hour is the sweet spot. Far enough that the landscape has completely changed, close enough that you are home for dinner without hurrying.
28 days out6 placesthe nearest is a 36 min drive from Rome
If you only take one day out of Rome, take it at this distance. Under about an hour and a quarter you get Tivoli and its two villas, the whole of Lake Bracciano, the Etruscan necropoleis on the coast, the first of the sulphur springs, the abbeys of the Aniene valley and every one of the Castelli towns.
It is also the distance at which a day stops being a detour and starts being a day. You can build the whole thing around one booking — a tasting, a boat, a guided visit — and let the town around it fill the rest.
Everything below is between about half an hour and an hour and a quarter of driving from the middle of Rome, sorted by how close it is.
The reason an hour is the best band on the site is arithmetic. Two hours of driving in total leaves you seven or eight usable hours at the far end, which is enough for a booking, a town, a long lunch and a walk without any of them being rushed. Thirty minutes gives you more time and less change of scene; two hours gives you more change and less time. An hour is where the two curves cross.
It is also the band with the widest choice: six or seven completely different kinds of day — water, hot water, ruins, wine, mountains, underground — all reachable before the middle of the morning and all in different directions.
The one practical warning is the first twenty minutes. Getting out of the centre of Rome is the slowest part of every one of these days, and the drive times on the cards are calculated without traffic. Leaving before eight or after ten makes more difference than choosing a destination twenty minutes closer.
The lakes, the near hill towns, the coast at Cerveteri and Santa Marinella. Out and back easily in a day, with time in the middle for a long lunch.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
With your handsAbout two hours of truffle hunting in the hills with the truffle dogs, then a seven-course truffle lunch at the host's home with wine from his own production.
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With your handsMetro C to the end of the line, two hours hunting, then a seven-course lunch.
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With your handsCut the grapes yourself. The window opens 1 September and shuts 15 October.
€40 per person
Books on Casale Mattia
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With your handsThe estate has a dedicated events and tastings page on its own site.
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With your handsThe estate sells a day alongside one of its technicians, doing the work of a winegrower.
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With your handsA guided walk through the vineyards and the cellar followed by a tasting of the estate's wines paired with local food, lasting two hours.
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On the trailThe gardens of the Ville Pontificie at Castel Gandolfo are open as the Borgo Laudato Si', a working site of integral ecology.
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With your handsGuests are welcomed with a glass of prosecco, then split into groups that take turns preparing dishes chosen by the hotel's chef.
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With your handsA tasting devoted to three wineries of the Castelli Romani, served with artisan focaccia, mixed cheeses and cured meats, on a terrace looking over Lake Albano.
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On the trailThe Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo was opened to the public in 2014.
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On the waterFour guided outings from the beach club on Lake Albano, all the same length and the same price: on a paddleboard along the Francigena shore, aboard the club's sailing boat, on f…
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With your handsA bistrot two steps from Piazza della Libertà, run by the team behind the Michelin-starred Sintesi.
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On the trailA ten-kilometre easy walk from Castel Gandolfo to Nemi between the two crater lakes, through woods and past the villages on their rims.
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With your handsFour day-long outings run in English by a small local company: a street-food stroll through Frascati, Nemi or Ariccia ending in a fraschetta; a private tasting room in one of th…
See the dayTivoli's valley climbing to Subiaco, the Sabina olive country, the first of the Ciociaria towns. Slightly further, noticeably emptier.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
In the old stonesA Romanesque cathedral at Anagni, from the eleventh century.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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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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In the old stonesAn archaeological site at Anagni.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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On horsebackA farm stay in the lower Sabina, between Rieti and the northern edge of Rome, that runs rides with the A.S.D.
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With your handsA truffle hunt in the woods with an experienced hunter and his trained dogs, on a farm in Torri in Sabina that also breeds truffle dogs.
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With your handsA hands-on class making the fregnaccia, the local hand-rolled pasta, at a farm in Torri in Sabina, ending with lunch.
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With your handsA forty-hectare organic estate of vines, olive groves and coppice on the hills at Anagni, producing Cesanese del Piglio DOCG and Passerina del Frusinate along with extra virgin …
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Under the groundA guided visit to the cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata at Anagni and its museum: the chapter library, the old treasury, the Caetani chapel, the oratory of Saint Thomas Becket…
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On the trailAn archaeological museum at Anagni built to cover the whole surrounding district rather than the town alone, telling the earlier and less known history of a place mostly visited…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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 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 PickupsIt depends on the weather more than on taste. On a hot day, the lakes and the water. On a cold clear one, the hot springs or a hill town with a long lunch in it. On a wet one, the caves and the underground towns, which do not care what the sky is doing.
Yes, if they are on the same side of the city. Two Castelli towns, or Bracciano and Trevignano, or Tivoli and Villa Adriana, all work. An hour north and an hour south in the same day means three hours of driving through Rome, which is the one thing to avoid.
It is from the middle of Rome to the town, on the road network, without traffic. Getting out of the centre in the morning is the slowest part of any of these days, which is one reason people who do this often start early.
Tivoli and its villas, Lake Bracciano, the Etruscan necropoleis at Cerveteri and Tarquinia, the sulphur springs at Cretone and Stigliano, the Aniene valley up towards Subiaco, the Sabina olive hills, and the first of the Ciociaria towns at Anagni. Six different kinds of day within the same drive.
Tivoli, Bracciano, Frascati, the Castelli and the coast towns are on lines out of the city, and where an operator has told us they can be reached without a car their activity page says so. The Sabina, the Ciociaria and the Tuscia are car country.
Earlier than the drive time suggests. Getting clear of the centre and the ring road is the slow part, and the times on this site are calculated without traffic. Leaving by eight buys you an hour you cannot buy any other way.
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