Placed upon a volcanic plateau, the park is adjacent to the historical center of Sutri. The ancient Sutrium, for a long time disputed between Etruscans and Roman, it dominates an archaeologically interesting area.

 

Places to visit:

Sutri: the Amphitheatre, totally dug in tuff, the Mitreum, the Church of Our Holy Lady of the Grass, destined to the oriental worship of god Mitra, Cathedral and historical center, Patrimonium museum, the wall chain of the medieval town (as the frescoes kept in the mitreum), that includes Etruscan and Roman features; the historical Savorelli Villa from the 1700s.

Excursions and guided tours:

Tel +39 761 600330

How to get to the park:

Sun Highway A1, exit St. Oreste; continue on SS Flaminia until Civita Castellana, then on SS 311 to Nepie, then Cassia Street.;

Cassia Street both from Rome and from Viterbo.

Included communes:

Sutri (RM).

 

 

The landscape is unmistakable, the one of Etruscan Latium. Gorges of tuff cloaked in oaks, small flows hidden by a thick vegetation and necropolis that let you see a few graves…

 

Places to visit:

Civic Archaeological Museum of Rocky Necropolis;

Necropolis St. Julian: complex of Necropolis hidden in the woods, where you can find many types of tombs: as a shaft, as a hole, as a dice, as a porch.

Excursions and guided tours:

There are many guided paths and equipped tracks.

Included communes:

Barbarano Romano

Useful information:

Park Company: Tel +39 761 414601/414780

Trekking, excursions, oenological-gastronomical activities: Cultural Association “The Castle” Barbarano – Tel +39 347 0191536

How to get to the park:

SS Bis to Sutri, Caprinica, Bracciano, Barbarano;

Braccianense Street to Bracciano, Manziana, Oriolo Vejano, Barbarano;

SS Aurelia: crossroad to SS 1 Bis to Tarquinia, Monteromano, crossroad to Blera Barbarano;

Sun Highway A1, exit Orte, Super Street Orte, Vetralla, SS 2 Cassia to Vetralla and then crossraod to Blera, Barbarano.

 

 Natural Monument Plateau St. Angel

 

Territory made of hilly areas signed by water flows.

Guided tours only for organized groups: Tel +39 761 345784 at WWF of Viterbo.

Information and useful numbers:

Park Company: Tel +39 6 8447206 – Fax +39 6 4497207 – email: info@wwf.lazio.it - www.wwflazio.it

Included communes :

Corchiano, Gallese.

How to get to the park:

Sun Highway A1 exit to Magliano Sabina;

Cassia Street to Fabbrica di Roma.

 

Vulci Oasis

 

The oasis stretches at the borders between Latium and Tuscany with the typical Mediterranean underbrush.

 

Places to visit:

The whole area included in the naturalistic park of Vulci (on of the biggest city-state of Etruria), is archaeologically very interesting: from the remains you can see the Roman phase built on the pre-existing Etruscan buildings. They’re known the Necropolis (Cavalupo, Ponte Rotto, Polledrara, Osteria, Campo di Maggio, Camposcala) with a great number of tombs with the most different shapes and types. The National Archaeological Museum shows the span of time going from the 2500 to the 1st century b.C. with the remains of the grave of Panatenaica, Greek and Etruscan ceramics, bronzes, sarcophagus.

Excursions and guided tours:

Natural paths, observation sites. Booking at the WWF guard of the oasis: Tel +39 766 897015.

Included communes:

Canino, Montalto di Castro. In the park there’s also the commune of Manciano (GR).

How to get to the park:

SS Aurelia follow the signs to Montalto di Castro and the ruins of Vulci; once reached the bridge of Abbadia, follow the signs leading to the entrance of the WWF Oasis.

 

Regional Preserve Mount Rufeno

 

The preserve is characterized by the presence of ancient farmhouses, once inhabited, now witnessing an architectural tradition. Some of them were restored and turned into hospitality structures (Monaldesca, Tigna, Sambucheto), or into museums (Flaceto Garden) and Centers for ambient-studies (Marzapalo).

 

Places to visit:

The naturalistic museum of flowers; the museum of Tower Julia de’ Jacopo “medieval ceramics”;

Acquapendente: the cathedral of St. Sepulcher (9th century), the church of St. Agostino (13th century), the church of St Francis, the monastery of St. Chiara, the renaissance Viscontini Palace, the medieval town of Alfina Tower.

Excursions:

At the visiting center you can book: visits, guided excursions on foot, by horse or by bike, theme weekends (mushrooms, medical plants, music and dance), green weeks. By bike you can go through the whole preserve and they connect to the protected area of Selva di Meana in Umbria. Casale Monladesca: Tel +39 763 717078

Information and useful numbers:

Visiting Center – Acquapendente – Tel +39 763 733642 – open every day from 9.30 to 12.30 and from 16.00 to 19.00.

Included communes:

Acquapendente.

How to get to the park:

Sun Highway A1 – exit Orvieto, continue to Acquapendente.

 

Regional Preserve “Selva del Lamone”

 

It’s among the less known and most interesting areas in Latium, placed on a hilly territory of volcanic origin, at the border with Tuscany. Remains of pre-historical installations and wonderful glades, make of it a destination of major naturalistic beauty.

 

Places to visit:

Farnese: Municipal Museum “F. Dictator Vonwiller”, where there’s a display of the main happenings of the history of the territory. They’re quite interesting the remains of the town of Sorgenti della Nova, witnessing the Final Age of Bronze.

Excursions and guided tours:

Inside the Selva, there’s a thick web of paths well signed that let you make excursions and walks.

Information and useful numbers:

Offices of the Preserve: Tel/Fax +39 761 458741

Commune of Farnese: Tel +39 761 458741 – email: riserva.lamone@tiscalinet.it - riserva.lamone@tin.it - www.tiscalinet.it/selva_lamone/

How to get to the park:

From Rome: Cassia, follow the signs to Vetralla, Tuscanica, Canino, Talentano until the crossroad to Ischia di Castro;

SS 1 Aurelia, crossroad to Montalto di Castro towards Canino, Talentano; then follow the signs to Ischia di Castro and then to Farnese;

Sun Highway A1, exit Orvieto, follow the signs to Bolsena, Talentano, and then to Ischia di Castro.

Included communes:

Farnese

 

Regional Preserve Tuscania

 

A wonderful rustic environment where the suggestive town rises, in the heart of south Etruria, rich in historical, archaeological and artistic witnesses.

 

Places to visit:

Tuscanica: the Roman Churches of St. Peter and Our Holy Lady Major that keeps a big fresco of the Last Judgement from the beginning of 1300; the Church of Our Holy Lady of the Rest, built on an early Benedectine Abbey; Our Holy Lady of the Rose, Roman and Gothic; the Cathedral, with façade from the 1500s; the Cloister of Our Holy Lady of the Rest where it’s staged the Archaeological Museum that includes remains of great archaeological interest, among which many sarcophaguses made of terracotta. There are also wide Etruscan necropolis with tombs from the 4th-3rd century b.C.

Information and useful numbers:

Commune: +39 761 443374

Tourist Information Office: +39 761 436371

Included Communes:

Mazzano Romano (RM); Calcata (VT)

How to get to the park:

Sun Highway A1, exit Orvieto (from North), continue to Montefiascone, Marta and Tuscanica; Exit Orte (from South), continue to Viterbo, Tuscanica;

SS1 Aurelia or Highway A12 Rome-Civitavecchia, exit Tarquinia (from South), exit Montalto di Castro (from North);

SS Cassia Street (from Rome), after Vetralla continue to Tuscanica.

 

Regional Preserve Casoli Mount of Bomarzo

 

It’s placed 1,5 km from the town of Bomarzo, you get to the Park of Monsters, or Sacred Wood, monumental complex placed at the feet of a natural amphitheatre. A series of terraces go to the bottom of the valley where, in the middle of a rich vegetation, there are sculptures of imaginary characters, monsters, Cyclopes according to the like for ugliness typical of the renaissance. You first meet two sphinxes, with the following inscription: “You coming in think, side by side, and tell me if so many wonders were made to cheat or for art”. Among the most interesting sculptures there’s the Pending House, inside which you have the feeling of losing your balance.

 

Places to visit:

Bomarzo: an ancient village placed in a panoramic position on top of a hill: it’s dominated by the imposing Orsini Palace, built between 1525 and 1583. Nearby, the cathedral that, rebuilt in the 16th century, stays on a probably Etruscan building and has a paleo-cristian sarcophagus as an altar, Sepulcher of St. Anselmo.

 

Regional Preserve Lake of Vico