Over the border
The nearest bit of Umbria is closer to Rome than half of Lazio, and it has a cathedral, an underground city and a waterfall the Romans cut by hand, still switched on and off for a hydroelectric plant.
57 days out22 placesthe nearest is a 1 h 13 drive from Rome
Umbria begins about ninety minutes north of Rome, and the first thing you meet is Orvieto, standing on a plug of tufo above the plain. The cathedral front is one of the great pieces of Italian Gothic and the Signorelli chapel inside it is a fresco cycle of the end of the world, one of the great pieces of Italian painting on the way out of the Gothic. Underneath the town there are caves, wells and Etruscan tunnels going down through the rock.
Just over the Lazio border below it is Civita di Bagnoregio, a village on a pinnacle of eroding clay reached by a footbridge, slowly losing the ground it stands on. It is small, it is astonishing and it is best early or late.
East of there, the Nera valley: the Marmore falls, which the Romans cut to drain a marsh and which still fall in three stages, and around them rafting, canyoning and climbing. Narni, on the way, has an underground complex including an Inquisition cell that local cavers found by accident.
All of it is inside two hours of Rome, and all of it holds a full day.
The three grids are three different days and the mistake is to try to hold two of them together. Orvieto and Civita are the cathedral-and-hilltop day. The Nera valley is the water day — the falls, and rafting and canyoning under them. The underground is a thread that runs through both and is the one that works when the weather does not.
Orvieto is the one to pick if you only take one. The town sits on a plug of rock with a funicular up to it, everything is walkable once you are there, and it stacks a cathedral front, a fresco cycle, a well cut in a double spiral and a second city of caves and Etruscan wells underneath into an area you could cross in twenty minutes. The country around it — Castiglione in Teverina, Amelia, Lugnano — is wine and olive country and is where the tastings are.
Two things to check before you set out, and both are on the cards. The Marmore falls run to a release schedule set by the power station, so arriving between releases means arriving at a cliff. And Civita is reached on foot across a long footbridge, which decides whether it works for everybody in your party.
The cathedral town, the collapsing village, and the tufo country either side of the Umbrian border. Orvieto is the anchor and carries most of this grid; around it are wine estates at Castiglione in Teverina, hill towns at Amelia and Lugnano, and the caves and wells under the rock itself.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
With your handsA family winery on the Amerino hills, working since 1960, with a published price list that starts at €5 for two wines and climbs to a vertical of five vintages of the same label.
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With your handsThe Suatoni family mill at Amelia opens the Rajo grove, planted with a local cultivar the Romans already knew and now backed by a Slow Food community.
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With your handsA small estate above the Tiber valley at Lugnano in Teverina.
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In the old stonesA Baroque church at Amelia.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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On the trailOne of the largest WWF reserves in Italy, 900 hectares of freshwater marsh, reedbed and riverine wood on the Tiber between Umbria and Lazio, and an Important Bird Area.
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With your handsThe Mottura estate, 130 hectares in the Tiber valley below Civitella d'Agliano, receives visitors at its old cellar and pours six labels, including the Grechetto Poggio della Co…
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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.
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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.
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With your handsA private, appointment-only tour of a hillside estate 25 minutes from Orvieto, where wine has been made since 1212.
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Under the groundBeneath a house on Via della Pace in Orvieto lie more than 400 square metres of caves and tunnels on several levels, cut into the tufo across three thousand years: Etruscan grai…
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In the old stonesA Gothic cathedral at Orvieto, from the thirteenth century.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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On the trailOne ticket for the cathedral, the Emilio Greco museum and the underground rooms beneath the Duomo.
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Under the groundAn hour under the city, in a cave that holds a steady 14 °C.
Booked by phone
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Under the groundA guided walk through part of the man-made caves dug into the tufa rock under Orvieto, with cisterns, quarries and dovecotes cut into the cliff.
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Under the groundTurn up, pay at the door, and climb down an Etruscan well and its caves.
€5 per person
Books on orvietobooking.com
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Under the groundA self-guided route through nine linked caves under the medieval quarter of Orvieto, including an Etruscan well, a kiln for medieval pottery and pre-Roman finds left where they …
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Under the groundA sixteenth-century well sunk into the tufa cliff, with two helical staircases built one above the other so that pack animals going down never crossed those coming up.
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On two wheelsA full private day out of Rome by train and e-bike: from the Alviano nature reserve in the Tiber valley the route climbs to Civita di Bagnoregio, the hilltop village reached onl…
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With your handsA visit to the underground cellar of the d'Amico estate followed by a guided tasting of three wines (Terre di Ala, Notturno dei Calanchi, Villa Tirrena) with a buffet.
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With your handsA 40-hectare farm at 350 metres between Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio, making wine and olive oil since 1913.
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With your handsA masterclass on the estate's olive oils combined with a visit to both its traditional and its modern mill.
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With your handsThe museum occupies a former winery dug 27 metres into the hill over five floors and runs bookable tastings alongside the visit.
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With your handsA family organic winery in the Teverina hills walks visitors through the vineyards, the olive grove, an Etruscan tomb and the cellar, then pours seven organic wines.
See the dayWater, and everything you can do in it: rafting, canyoning, climbing the crags at Papigno, and the falls themselves, which run to a schedule set by the power station. Narni is on the way and has the underground complex; Piediluco is the lake above the falls.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
In the old stonesAn archaeological site at Narni.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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In the old stonesA Romanesque church at Narni, from the eleventh century.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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In the old stonesA fountain at Narni.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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Under the groundInside the Lacus, a vaulted thirteenth-century room under Piazza Garibaldi, an indoor adventure course with rope bridges, a zip line and an artificial climbing wall, built with …
A sports club — you join them for the day
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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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In the old stonesA Roman bridge in the woods above Narni, part of the Formina aqueduct that still feeds the town.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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In the old stonesOne arch of the Roman bridge that carried the Via Flaminia over the Nera, still standing in the river.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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In the old stonesA Baroque sanctuary at Narni, from the eighteenth century.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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On the trailA climbing session with instructors on the crags near the Marmore falls.
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Down the riverTwo routes: a base descent in the Mola canyon in the Valle del Salto, reached with ten minutes of walking, where the descent can be stopped at any point; and an advanced one in …
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Down the riverThe put-in is right under the Marmore falls, on the Nera.
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Down the riverEach person rides the rapids alone, lying on a moulded float with fins, following the guide down the lines of the river.
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Down the riverA walk-and-swim route through the gorge below the falls with jumps and natural slides, done in a wetsuit with a guide.
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On the trailA waterfall cut by Roman engineers in the third century BC, now on a controlled flow because the water drives a hydroelectric plant.
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On the trailThe Roman-built waterfall on the border between the Rieti basin and Umbria, with marked paths on two levels and the Balcone degli Innamorati, a viewpoint reached through a short…
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On the trailThe park sells four themed guided visits: the Balcone degli Innamorati under the falling water, a walk on the park trails covering history, flora and fauna, an animated visit fo…
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Down the riverThe rafting centre licensed to operate under the Marmore Falls, running class-4 descents from the Papigno base and gentler family descents and children's trips from the Arrone b…
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On the trailA guided walk with a local guide from the lake of Piediluco to the Marmore falls, following the water.
See the dayOrvieto's wells and caves, Narni's cistern and cell, the show caves at Pastena and Falvaterra, and the tunnels under the tufo towns on both sides of the border. The Umbrian side is as hollow as the Lazio one, and all of it is at the same temperature in August as in February.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
Under the groundA combined visit: the Ruspoli castle and its gardens, then the tunnels dug under Vignanello known as 'I Connutti'.
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Under the groundA caving trip on foot through the active branch of the Falvaterra system, walking in water at about 14-15 degrees.
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Under the groundThe longer caving route through the active Falvaterra system.
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Under the groundA short guided walk along an underground river inside the Falvaterra and Rio Obaco natural monument.
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Under the groundA viewing visit to a karst sinkhole about 60 metres deep and roughly 300 metres wide, formed when the roof of a cave collapsed.
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Under the groundA one-hour guided route covering about a kilometre of tunnels under Viterbo plus entry to the Templar Museum, with a tasting of local products.
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Under the groundA 25-minute walk through about 250 metres of tunnels cut into the tufa under Piazza della Morte, on two levels at three and eight metres below the square, lit by LEDs.
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Under the groundVisit to the network of tunnels and chambers dug under the medieval quarter of Viterbo.
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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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Under the groundA guided walk through a through-cave that water still runs into, inside the Monti Ausoni regional park.
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Under the groundA guided walk into an active resurgence cave where a river runs, with waterfalls and pools along the route.
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Under the groundThe crypt under the church of Santo Stefano holds bodies that dried out naturally instead of decaying, found during nineteenth-century exhumations, together with skulls and bones.
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Under the groundAn underground early-Christian cemetery cut into the tuff beneath the basilica, with roughly 1,600 burials used between the third and fifth centuries.
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Under the groundTwo Etruscan rock-cut necropolises, Pianezze and Centocamere, reopened to the public on 1 May, plus the Civita museum in the village, which reconstructs the interior of a chambe…
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Under the groundTo the left of the sanctuary church a stairway drops into the Grotta del Turco, the third and largest fissure of the split mountain: a pointed arch of rock open to the sea, wher…
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.
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See prices on LocalrentThere is wine at the end of this one. Somebody else driving is not a luxury here.
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See prices on Welcome PickupsOne of the best. The cathedral, the Signorelli frescoes, the underground and the well of San Patrizio make a full day, and the town is compact enough to do on foot once you are up there.
Yes, and many people do — they are about half an hour apart. Civita is small, so an hour or two there and the rest of the day in Orvieto is the usual shape.
No. The water is diverted for hydroelectricity and released at set times, which are published by the park that runs it — the cards link there. Arriving between releases is the classic mistake.
Orvieto is about an hour and a half from the middle of Rome, the Nera valley nearer two. Times on the cards are calculated on the road network without traffic.
About an hour and a half by road from the middle of the city, and the drive times on each card are calculated on the road network without traffic. The Nera valley and the Marmore falls are nearer two hours.
The cathedral and the Signorelli chapel, the underground caves and Etruscan wells, the well of San Patrizio, and the town itself, which is compact and entirely walkable. Outside it there is wine: the country north and west is full of small estates running tastings.
It is a village on an eroding pinnacle of clay reached by a footbridge, and there is nothing else quite like it within reach of Rome. It is also small: an hour or two rather than a day, which is why most people pair it with Orvieto half an hour away.
Yes — the Nera below the falls carries rafting and canyoning through the season, and the operators are in the second grid above. It runs on the same water releases as the falls, so the schedule matters here as well.
It is closer, which is most of the argument: the first of Umbria is nearer to Rome than half of Lazio. Tuscany from Rome means the Maremma rather than the postcard Tuscany, and both are good days — Umbria is the one with the cathedral, the waterfall and the underground.
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