The Lake Bracciano Area
The regional park of the lakes Bracciano and Martignano offers lovely beaches in a delightful and sunny location, with the pretty villages of Bracciano, Trevignano and Anguillara Sabazia (looks like a crib on the lake), each one easy to reach by paths, by car and bus, and also by boat. The lake is also well known for the princes the Orsini-Odescalchi majestic Castle, one of the most noteworthy examples of Renaissance military architecture in Italy. The castle is privately owned, but open to the public for guided tours. Around the lake is also possible to visit The botanical Gardens of San Liberato, designed by Russel Page, and the Historic Air Craft Museum: An ancient hydroplane base houses today four hangars that include most of the historic aircraft, from the Prototipo by Leonardo da Vinci to the our days. Thanks the volcanic area there are several sites of the thermal water: the spas of Stigliano and Viterbo offer round year baths of sulfurous 37 degrees water.

Natural reserves
By the nice sunny beaches of the Tyrrhenian sea, 20 minutes drive, are located some natural reserves as the Oasi of Torre Flavia, Oasi di Palo, Oasi di Macchiagrande, and Riserva Naturale di Macchiatonda. Don't miss the castle of Santa Severa facing the sea and built on Etruscan ruins.
At 8 km from Bracciano the Macchia Grande of Manziana is a wood of secular oak trees, that preserve the typical "macchia Mediterranea" (flora and fauna of the Mediterranean). Very unusual is the Natural Monument of "Caldara" which, with its little geysers of sulfurous water, make an ideal goal for having picknick during a walk. By horse and mountain bike, is possible to reach the Natural Reserve of Canale Monterano (5 km) with its ancient ruins of the old village, the beech wood and mill of Oriolo Romano (5 km), and the Regional park of Marturanum (15 km), Tolfa with its beautiful panorama.

Archaeology and Historical artistic sites
The area around the lake Bracciano is identified as the territory of Etruscans, the civilization emerged in the beginning of the 7th century BC and later destroyed by the ancient Romans. There are many nearby sites and museums where admire their art (terracotta, jewels, sculptures, tombs) as Tarquinia e Cerveteri, Veio, Sutri, Santa Severa, Barbarano Romano, etc. The rich ancient Romans use to built their villas outside the city by the lake Bracciano. The history left many other signs in the medieval age (the castle Orsini-Odescalchi in Bracciano, do not miss Viterbo), in the Renaissance (Palazzo Farnese of Caprarola). The small ancient villages are now a mix of several style.

Places to See within one hour drive (alphabetical)

Bagnaia, Villa Lante: 4 km from Viterbo, the splendid country residence of a cardinal built during the late Rennaissance period. Villa Lante is actually an 18 hectare park with 2 twin hunting lodges designed by Vignola set in one of the most beautiful Italian gardens in the country, lavishly adorned with fountains and ornamental streams.
Bomarzo, the park of Monsters named for the many larger-than-life sculptures. The park was devised by the architect Pirro Ligorio (he completed the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome after the death of Michelangelo and built Villa d'Este in Tivoli) on commision of Prince Pier Francesco Orsini, called Vicino, only to vent the heart broken at the death of is wife Giulia Farnese
Calcata is one of the best preserved medieval hill towns in Italy. it consists of a wide variety of alternative people, artists and bohemians. Every third house contains an art gallery. But other basics of modern life are missing completely. There is no supermarket. Located high atop a 50m high hill, it has a small castle and is surrounded by a dense forest. This place was originally used by the Faliscans, a pre-Roman people, as a sacred ritual site. In 1930s inhabitants relocated 800m up the road to a newly built town, Calcata Nuova, bcause there were fears, the craggy cliffs it sits on would collapse. But the planned destruction of the old town by the government never happened. In the late 1960s artists and bohemians discovered the abandoned town and buyed the houses. 1983 Holy Foreskin mysteriously disappears...
Caprarola. The Villa Farnese, situated on a hilltop near Lake Vico, deserves a special place among the great works of art of the late Renaissance. The villa Farnese is a five-storey building with a rock-cut cellar and several kitchens. The Palazzo had already been started on a pentagonal plan by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, an expert military engineer. After Sangallo’s death, Vignola began to work at Caprarola around the mid sixteenth century. It houses the Stanze dei Prelati, Piani dei Cavalieri e degli Staffieri with splendid frescoes, the Piano Nobile with the cardinal’s private apartments and some gorgeous public rooms. In the 16th century the Farnese family were at the top of their power, and the rich cardinal engaged some famous artists to decorate his villa. Used as a summer residence by Alessandro Farnese and his successors, the lodge has a geometric garden with some fine fountains and peperino statues.
Castel Sant’Elia with the Benedictine Sanctuary of Santa Maria ad Rupes. The Sanctuary sits upon a sheer tufaceous cliff overlooking the valley. Within the sanctuary’s Franciscan monastic house you can descend the 144 tufa steps that Brother Rodio started digging in 1782 and completed in 1796. Thousands of pilgrims over the centuries have made their way down those stairs. Today believers and non-believers from around the world follow their footsteps to the grotto in the rock face containing a venerated 16th century painting of the Madonna and Child and on down to the path known as “road of the saints”. That trail takes them to the valley floor and ends at the Basilica of Sant’Elia, a Romanesque church constructed in the eighth century by hermit cave dwellers, who embraced the Benedictine Rule and founded the Monastery of St. Elias. It is believed the basilica rose where the Emperor Nerone had erected a temple to Diana the Huntress and where before that Etruscans had built a shrine dedicated to Pico Marzio.
Cerveteri and Tarquinia and the Etruscan Necropolises. Thousands of tombs organized in a city-like plan, with streets, small squares and neighbourhoods. The site by Cerveteri, named La Banditaccia, contains very different types of tombs: trenches cut in rock; tumuli; and some, also carved in rock, in the shape of huts or houses with a wealth of structural details. The necropolis of Tarquinia, also known as Monterozzi, contains 6,000 graves cut in the rock. It is famous for its 200 painted tombs, the earliest of which date from the 7th century BC. Don’t miss the Etruscan museum of Tarquinia and the main Etruscan museum in Rome.
Civita Castellana is a small town very interesting for its historic centre, the fortress and the Dome with its famous cosmat floor.
Civita di Bagnoregio founded by Etruscans is much admired for its architecture and noted for its striking position atop a plateau of friable volcanic tufa overlooking the Tiber river valley, in constant danger of destruction as its edges fall off, leaving the buildings built on the plateau to crumble. As of 2004, there are plans to reinforce the plateau with steel rods to prevent further geological damage.
Nepi needs a pair of hours for a look at the main square, the walls, the aqueduct. The history is closely related to the Borgia family (Lucrezia, il Valentino and their father, Cesare Borgia alias Pope Alessandro VI).
Santa Severa. The castle of Santa Severa is one of the most important areas of local historical and tourist interest of the Tyrrhenian coast. It occupies the area of the ancient site of Pyrgi, the harbour town in following the ancient Caere (Cerveteri). In the centuries the first establishment was modified until it assumed the actual aspect that represents a real medieval village. From the hall of the Visitors Centre in the museum one follows the route of "Pyrgi and the Castle of Santa Severa": a way of discovering the history of one of the most ancient ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea; an important place of worship, an Etruscan city, a Roman fortress, a castle and medieval village. A journey going back in time for more than 4000 years in a suggestive coastal scene.
Sutri. Town of ancient origins with rests and monuments of the Etruscan, Roman age and the medieval period. In the hill of tufe is still visible the Etruscan necropolis of rupestre type. Of it are visible today 64 tombs disposed on more levels. The tombs are dated from 3th century a.C. to the 1st century d.C. Near this fascinating tombs is one of most evocative ancient monuments of the Lazio: the amphitheatre of Sutri. A few meters from it, are some Etruscan tombs, transformed in Mitreo in the 3th. century d.C. and that subsequently was used as a Christian church dedicated to the "Madonna del Parto", to its inside interesting paintings representing Saint Michael Archangel, the legend of Gargano and pilgrims in travel towards the sacred places.
Viterbo became important when it was a place of refuge for many Popes, earning it the title of the “City of Popes”. During the long controversy between the Roman Catholic church and the Emperor, Viterbo became a free city and it grew. Today Viterbo preserves a distinctive medieval urban and architectural plan, which you can still enjoy in one of the most suggestive medieval settings: San Pellegrino.