Day Trips in Lazio
Beautiful beaches, enchanting villages, and Papal history: what to do outside Rome.
01030 Calcata Vecchia VT, Italy
Abandoned in the 1960s for fear its cliffs were crumbling, Calcata, Italy was discovered by hippies and artists soon after and today, the "paese dei fricchettone," is still made up of the same "freaks." I lived in Calcata, wedged between Tuscany...
04029 Sperlonga, Province of Latina, Italy
During our trip to Rome, we decided to check out the town of Sperlonga, located about 60 miles south of the city. Speckled with white-washed buildings reminiscent of the Greek Isles, we found an escape from the city in this charming little town....
Via Flacca, km 1161, 04029 Sperlonga LT, Italy
Ever since Roman emperor Tiberius kept a villa in Sperlonga in the first century CE, this resort town on the Tyrrhenian Sea has been a favorite escape for Romans fleeing the Eternal City’s summer heat. Sperlonga’s prominent watchtower, the Torre...
Largo Marguerite Yourcenar, 1, 00010 Tivoli RM, Italy
The 2nd-century Roman emperor Hadrian spent much of his 20-year reign traveling through his empire, absorbing architectural inspiration from Greece to Egypt. His vision for a luxury villa was realized in Tivoli, a Roman suburb, where he...
00044 Frascati, Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy
Frascati, one of the hilltop towns that collectively form the Castelli Romani southeast of Rome, has long been a Roman suburb. In antiquity, nobles built their villas in the hills, a tradition that was revived during the Renaissance. Today, the...
Piazza Trento, 5, 00019 Tivoli RM, Italy
When Cardinal Ippolito d'Este narrowly lost the Papal election, he assuaged his frustrations by embellishing a spectacular villa in Tivoli, a village in the hills east of Rome. The villa itself was brilliantly outfitted in 16th century frescoes,...
Via Francesco Passino, 00154 Roma RM, Italy
At the Mercato Contadino dei Castelli Romani, a farmers' market in the hilltop town of Ariccia, farmers, bee keepers, cheese makers and other producers of artisanal foods gather on weekends to sell directly to consumers. The farm-direct sales cut...
Lake Bracciano, Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy
Took a trip through the vineyards, did some winetasting, and then stopped at the lake to admire the view and see where the pope comes in the summer.
01030 Vitorchiano, VT, Italy
I wanted a week away from technology, and so I rented a farm house in Lazio, Italy. The nearest town, pictured above, was Vitorchiano. It's a cliffside medieval village with a long-standing identity as an affiliate to room. The two restaurants in...
Southern Europe
Not as famous as Tuscany or Umbria, the Lazio region (which includes Rome) is nevertheless gorgeous with scenic rolling hills. I took the above picture while biking between Grotte S. Stefano and Sippicciano. It was mid-October, with highs right at...
