Viterbo
An hour and a half north of Rome there is a city of black stone with free hot springs outside the walls, and around it a country of tufo, carved tombs and roads sunk into the rock.
55 days out17 placesthe nearest is a 47 min drive from Rome
The Tuscia is what people call the top left corner of Lazio, and it is the part nobody goes to. Everything in it is made of tufo — the soft volcanic rock left by the eruptions that dug Lake Bolsena and Lake Vico — which is why the towns are dark grey, why the Etruscans could carve tombs and sunken roads into the hillsides, and why hot sulphur water still comes up through it in several places.
Viterbo itself was the papal seat in the thirteenth century, and the medieval quarter of San Pellegrino is intact end to end, with no modern infill in it. Outside the walls, the Bullicame springs run hot and free in the open air, exactly as Dante described them.
It is an hour and a half from Rome, which is exactly far enough to have kept it empty. Two days is better than one, but one is plenty for the springs and the town.
Viterbo itself takes a morning and is worth planning around one fact: the San Pellegrino quarter is small and entirely medieval, so it rewards walking slowly rather than following a route. The papal palace with its loggia is the set piece. Underneath the town there are Etruscan galleries you can visit with a guide, which most people who come here never learn about.
The hot water is the other half of the town and it comes in two forms. Outside the walls the Bullicame springs run in the open, free, exactly as Dante described them — no changing rooms, no attendant, just hot sulphur water and whoever else turned up. On the other side there are the established baths, several of which take a booking online and run in English, including one built around a monumental pool that stays open at night.
Around the city is where the Tuscia earns its reputation for strangeness. Bomarzo's carved monsters. Villa Lante's water garden at Bagnaia. The pentagonal Farnese palace at Caprarola. Sutri's amphitheatre cut down into the rock. Civita Castellana's Faliscan museum and Cosmati mosaics. Nepi's Borgia fortress and its aqueduct. The rock-cut necropoleis at Norchia and Castel d'Asso.
If you have a single day, the shape that works is the medieval quarter in the morning, one thing from the ring around it after lunch, and the hot water at the end — in that order, because nobody does anything useful after a sulphur bath.
The city, the medieval quarter and the springs outside the walls — both the free open-air kind and the built spas.
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 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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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…
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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…
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In the hot waterThe thermal spa of the Salus Terme hotel on the edge of Viterbo, bookable for the day without staying overnight.
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In the hot waterA night ticket to the open-air thermal pool of Terme dei Papi, valid from 21:00 to 01:00.
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In the hot waterA cave cut into the rock where hyperthermal water surfaces at 58 degrees and fills the room with steam, used as a natural Turkish bath.
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In the hot waterA twenty-minute walk through alternating cold and hot hyperthermal water, meant to stimulate circulation in the legs.
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In the hot waterA twenty-minute session in a sensory pool for a maximum of five people at a time, with colour therapy, hydromassage and music heard with the ears just under the water while lyin…
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In the hot waterA day ticket to the large open-air thermal pool fed by the Bullicame spring, the historic spa of Viterbo.
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In the hot waterA private thermal tub sold for two people at a time.
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On the trailThe association of licensed tourist guides for the province of Viterbo and Rome takes bookings directly, by phone or email, for half-day guided visits: Viterbo's medieval quarte…
A sports club — you join them for the day
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With your handsThe wider class of the same school: choose handmade pasta, the four Roman classics done properly with guanciale and Pecorino Romano, or Tuscia dishes like suppli' al telefono an…
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With your handsEgg dough kneaded by hand, the sheet rolled thin with a rolling pin and no machine, then the classic cuts — tagliatelle, fettuccine, maltagliati and Viterbo's own lombrichelli.
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In the hot water58°C out of the ground, free, 209 metres from the bus stop, and no changing room.
Free — nothing to pay
Booked by phone
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With your handsA working artisan mill on the old Via Cassia, 68 km from Rome and 18 from Viterbo, below the medieval walls of Vetralla.
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On the trailWalk to the Etruscan temple-tombs cut into the walls of a canyon, the ruins of the medieval castle and the church of San Pietro, crossing gorges and fording the river.
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On the trailThe thirteenth-century Orsini fortress above Soriano nel Cimino, a massive crenellated block joined to an older tower-palace, with its original walled courtyard.
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On the trailA full-day guided walk in the UNESCO-listed old-growth beech forest of Monte Cimino, led by a certified environmental hiking guide.
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On the trailShort walk in the beech forest of the Monti Cimini, a UNESCO site, with a falconry demonstration and a stop at the Sasso Menicante, the balanced boulder Roman authors already wr…
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On the trailGuided walk through one of the best preserved medieval villages of central Italy, built on a spur of peperino stone: the town hall, the sixteen-metre clock tower and the house w…
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On the trailA sixteenth-century garden of surprises built for cardinal Gambara: a stream that springs from the rock at the top and is walked down the slope through terraces, cascades, dripp…
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On the trailThe sixteenth-century Mannerist garden at Bagnaia, near Viterbo, built from 1511 and completed around 1566 for Cardinal Gambara, with cascades, fountains and grottoes on terraces.
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With your handsA guided visit to the production rooms and storage of a honey house, with honey extraction depending on the season of the visit, ending with a honey-based snack and tasting.
See the dayBomarzo, Caprarola, Sutri, Nepi, Tuscania and the tufo towns. Gardens, palaces, amphitheatres cut into rock and a lake in a crater.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
In the old stonesA monument at Nepi.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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On horsebackA riding centre in the countryside near Nepi, in the Tuscia, that publishes an actual price list — unusual in this trade.
A sports club — you join them for the day
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In the old stonesA church at Nepi.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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Down the riverA four-hour excursion walking in the water through the gorge of Nepi, starting from the Cascata del Pizzo, among small falls and pools.
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On the trailThe town museum runs guided visits that leave the building: the Rocca dei Borgia, where Lucrezia Borgia was lady of Nepi between 1499 and 1501, and the catacomb of Santa Savinil…
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On the trailOne-hour guided tour of the Rocca dei Borgia, from the Roman layers to the Borgia and Farnese periods, including the tower and the underground rooms.
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In the old stonesA Romanesque basilica at Castel Sant'Elia, built by Virginio Vespignani.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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With your handsGuided visit and narrated route through a reconstructed Etruscan village, followed by workshops: a simulated dig, clay working, fresco painting and grain grinding, and a tasting…
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On the trailGuided visit to the amphitheatre carved whole out of the tufa rock, to the Mithraeum later turned into a church, and to the Etruscan and Roman rock tombs along the Via Francigena.
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On the trailSeven hectares on a tuff spur beside the Via Cassia, the smallest protected park in Lazio: a Roman amphitheatre carved directly into the rock, the Etruscan necropolis, the mille…
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On the trailSix-hour excursion between the castles of Anguillara, Paterno and Fogliano, walking through woods and past archaeological sites in the Faleria countryside.
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With your handsNinety minutes in the museum of Orte learning the techniques of archaeological restoration and then doing the restorer's job on real material.
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Under the groundThe tourist office of Orte runs guided descents into the tunnels under the old town: the Etruscan-Roman aqueduct, the medieval dovecote and the snow well, and on the third weeke…
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In the old stonesA city gate in Orte.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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On the trailGuided walk on the Capranica to Sutri stretch of the Via Francigena, through hidden paths, gorges, streams, bridges and waterfalls, with archaeological sites along the way.
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With your handsThree hours in the museum's workshop; bring four people and leave with a cup.
Booked by phone
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With your handsA guided visit to the Casimiro Marcantoni ceramics museum, a lesson on the raw material and the tools, then designing and making a ceramic object to take home.
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With your handsVisit to the ceramics museum, then a hands-on session working the clay and making an object to take home.
See the dayThe rock is soft enough to dig, and everybody who lived here dug. Etruscan tombs, sunken roads, cellars and whole towns below the towns.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
Under the groundA six-hour guided day around the underground hydraulic works of the Lake Nemi basin — horizontal wells and tunnels, some still carrying water.
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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 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 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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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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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…
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 LocalrentYou come out of the water warm and slow, which is a bad state to drive back in.
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 PickupsYes, and it is the best-value one on this list. A complete medieval quarter, a papal palace, free hot springs outside the walls — and none of the queues an equivalent town in Tuscany would have.
Some of them are — the Bullicame pools are open air and public, with no changing rooms and no facilities. The Terme dei Papi is the built version with a monumental pool. Both are on this page.
About an hour and a half to Viterbo itself, less to the nearer Tuscia towns like Sutri and Nepi. Times on each card are calculated on the road network without traffic.
A Renaissance park full of enormous carved stone monsters — a leaning house, a giant tearing a man in half, an ogre's mouth you can walk into. Nobody has fully explained why it was made. Children love it and so does everybody else.
About an hour and a half by road, with the drive time on each card calculated on the road network without traffic. Sutri and Nepi, on the way, are closer to an hour.
The San Pellegrino medieval quarter, the papal palace and its loggia, the Etruscan galleries under the town, the free Bullicame springs outside the walls and the established baths on the other side. It is a full day without leaving the city limits.
The northern corner of Lazio, around Viterbo — the country left by the eruptions that dug Lake Bolsena and Lake Vico. Everything in it is tufo, which is why the towns are dark grey, the Etruscans could carve roads and tombs into the hillsides, and hot water still comes up through the ground.
Two days is comfortably better than one, because the town and the ring of gardens, palaces and rock-cut sites around it are two different days. The town is also at its best in the evening, when the medieval quarter empties out completely.
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