What to see in Viterbo, some tips for spending a low cost weekend in Tuscia, but also some tips on things not to do and not to see in Lazio.
Viterbo in Tuscia it is a historically important city where above all the presence of the Popes fleeing from Rome (between 1257 and 1281) has left important artistic marks and traces.
I was there in a long weekend at the end of the year, characterized by exceptional cold according to the inhabitants, but very intense. The polar temperatures certainly affected my visit, but I would like to give you some advice on what to do absolutely - and what you can also avoid.
The walls
The walls of Viterbo it is intact and of great beauty. Built in peperino, a local stone that recurs in statues and fountains, it is not all from the same period as can be seen from the numerous doors, some of which were closed to open new ones more suitable for connections. Within the walls the old city runs, with more or less wide streets along which to walk and get lost, to arrive in squares decorated with fountains such as piazza del GesĂą, medieval alleys now closed to traffic.
Piazza San Lorenzo
It is the Piazza del Duomo, the one where the cathedral and the Papal Palace with the loggia, perhaps the most famous image of Viterbo, which is formed by very elegant and refined arches like lace. This square with a medieval flavor houses the most famous monuments, the Cathedral of San Lorenzo which is a sober and beautiful Romanesque church, with amazing capitals at each column of the central nave. The Papal Palace can also be admired from door Faul, stands on the right perched in its numerous extensions.
Santa Rosa
Don't miss the story of this one young Santa, unofficial patron saint of Viterbo, venerated by everyone and to whom a large church has been dedicated where her body has been resting intact (in short, now it is mummified) for many centuries. The story of Rosa, a very young Christian and activist at the time of Frederick II, is very moving, he died at the age of 18 already in the odor of sanctity. Viterbo celebrates it on 3 September with the great show of Santa Rosa car, a mobile "bell tower", 28 meters high, which is fully illuminated and carried in procession by 100 men called porters. On top of the car is the statue of the saint who, as I said, has not yet been canonized but lives in local devotion.
Villa Lante
Villa Lante is located 4 kilometers from Viterbo, in a town called Bagnaia in a beautiful countryside dotted with olive trees. The entrance to the villa is one of the ends of the town. It is a state museum, admission is 5 euros.
Villa Lante dates back to the 6th century and more than a villa it is an extraordinary artistic garden, developed vertically on the theme of water and flanked by a “wild” wooded area. Two parallelepiped-shaped twin buildings and not even of the same period are the two bodies of the villa, currently not open to visitors. The park is made up of XNUMX fountains, dedicated to different characters and themes and to different waters (fresh water and sea water). The common thread is the insignia of Cardinal Gambara, a shrimp from which the pure water of the fountains flows. The most spectacular is the fountain of the Moors, in the parterre, but there is no lack of inventions, such as the table of the Popes, a fresh vein of water that flows in the middle of a stone table for summer banquets, refreshed by the gurgling water. Villa Lante is an oasis of beauty and elegance, a place where nature and art blend wonderfully.
In addition to the things to see and that I recommend on a weekend in Viterbo, there are also those that I do not recommend at all, here they are.
Viterbo Underground
Passing from the characteristic Piazza della Morte to go towards San Lorenzo you will find an information office - shop that sells the underground tour of Viterbo. The experience is painted as tempting, the price is € 4 per person, but in my opinion it is not worth them (especially when compared to Villa Lante); the path is very short, passes through some gallery transformed into a cellar, where objects have been placed to reconstruct the use of these tunnels in past centuries, in a somewhat imaginative way. In the end, product tasting is just a ploy to try to sell what the shop has on display.
Terme dei Papi
Well, in this regard I know that I will attract the arrows of half of Italy. The thermal baths in Viterbo they are very famous, the source is ancient (as the name implies) and also has a free variant open to all in Bullicame Park. I found the Bullicame closed, so I went to the Terme dei Papi establishment, sulphurous water that flows at 58 °.
For 18 € (price on weekends or holidays) I think the services should be a lot better: small changing rooms without the slightest comfort, no benches to lean on with duvets, boots, hats, all in hand with obvious discomfort. 8 showers for women. 5 hair dryers.
La outdoor tub is huge but very, very old, you can't sit comfortably or rest your head, and with the cold it was it was necessary to be all in the water, which is low, in a very uncomfortable position. I imagine that in the summer and with all the space outside on the pool surface the situation is different and more relaxing. But now in the winter (when I went it was 2 degrees and a cold wind was blowing) you were either in the water or you left. No spaces to relax in peace. In short, ample room for improvement is possible and desirable.
