Location

Civita di Bagnoregio is in the region of Latium or Lazio, very close to both Umbria and Tuscany. The nearest airport is Rome's Leonardo da Vinci, about a two hour drive. You can zoom in on the Google map above to get a closer look at the neighborhood, or click on Satellite to get an aerial view.

The easiest way to go to Rome or Florence is from the Orvieto train station (about 20 minutes away by car). The fast trains take about 50 minutes to Rome and about 2 hours to Florence.

THINGS TO DO

Do you want to see archaeological digs, medieval hill towns, formal gardens, traditional ceramics, or famous works of art? Whether you are interested in a particular period in history, the arts, traditional crafts, landscape, wines and traditional cuisines, you are sure to find more than enough of interest in the area around Civita.  There are a number of maps and guide books in the house as well as a good collection of books on the Etruscans, to help you plan your side trips. Here are a few suggestions.

Orvieto and Viterbo are the nearest large towns. Be sure to see the Cathedral of Orvieto, (about 20 minutes away) one of the best examples of Italian Gothic, and also take the underground tour, which gets you into a number of spaces carved into the hill on which Orvieto sits. Orvieto is like a larger Civita in many ways, and originated as an Etruscan town. Viterbo is larger, with an interesting medieval quarter and was important in the history of the papacy.

Heading east, it takes about an hour to reach Perugia, and Assisi is just a bit further. Todi is on the way to Perugia, as is the ceramic center of Deruta and a wonderful wine museum and restaurant (Tre Vaselle) at Torgiano. There is also Spoleto, site of an important international arts festival in the summer.

Lake Bolsena is a beautiful crater lake just to the west of Civita. The town of Bolsena is a beach resort on the lake with Roman ruins, or you can go through Montefiascone to the south side of the lake. The sea is 1 1/4 hours away at Tarquinia. Interesting hill towns west of Lake Bolsena include Pitigliano, Sovana, and Sorano.

There are Renaissance villa gardens of Villa Lante at Bagnaia to the south, near Viterbo, and also the Park of the Monsters at Bomarzo and the Renaissance Villa Farnese at Caprarola.

Many Etruscan tombs are found nearby, at Orvieto, Norchia, San Giovenale, San Giuliano, Tarquinia, Perugia and other places. Ferento (between Bagnoregio and Viterbo) is a Roman archaeological site.

Other possible day trips include Siena and towns near it in Tuscany, (Montepulciano, Montalcino,  etc.) to the north.   

CONTACT ME

Carol Martin Watts   cmwatts@mac.com