From the port of Civitavecchia, where the Forte Michelangelo has watched over the coast for five centuries, lies a territory that few expect to find within easy reach. Etruscan necropolises, medieval villages perched on clifftops, volcanic landscapes, castles by the sea. From here, five itineraries set out to discover a lesser-known Italy that is nonetheless capable of leaving a lasting impression. Each route has its own character, but all share the same roots — this ancient coast that has welcomed those arriving from the sea for three thousand years.
Available itineraries
Mistica Orvieto e la città che muore "Civita di Bagnoregio"
A journey through mysticism and volcanic landscapes. Departing from Civitavecchia, the route winds through Tuscia, passing by Tarquinia, Vulci, and Viterbo, before reaching the spectacular Civita di Bagnoregio. The journey then crosses the Umbrian border to discover Orvieto, with its Cathedral — a "stone lily" — rising majestically above the cliff. The itinerary concludes with a tasting of Orvieto Classico wines, born from the volcanic soils of this ancient, tormented land.
Tuscany tour from Civitavecchia port
This tour takes you into the heart of the Tuscan Maremma, through tufa stone villages, natural hot springs, and wild landscapes. The itinerary includes visits to Tarquinia and Vulci to explore the Etruscan chapter of the region's history, followed by Montemerano, Saturnia with its thermal waterfalls, and Pitigliano, the spectacular city carved into the rock. A stop at Lake Bolsena and a tasting of local wines round off a rich and varied day.
Live the dying city and the monsters park of Bomarzo
Bomarzo is a small medieval village perched on a tuffaceous spur in the province of Viterbo, in the heart of Tuscia. Its ancient origins, its narrow streets carved into the rock, and its imposing Orsini palace make it one of those places that seem suspended between past and present, between reality and legend.
But what truly makes Bomarzo unique in the world is what lies just below the village: the Sacred Wood, better known as the Park of the Monsters, one of the most extraordinary and enigmatic gardens ever created in the history of art and landscape architecture.
**A Garden Born from Grief**
The Park of the Monsters was commissioned in the second half of the sixteenth century by Pier Francesco Orsini, known as Vicino, a condottiere and man of letters who, after the death of his beloved wife Giulia Farnese, decided to give shape to his pain and his vision of the world through an extraordinary artistic project.
Vicino Orsini entrusted the design to the architect Pirro Ligorio, the same man who had worked on the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, and together they created a place that defies any conventional classification: neither a formal Italian garden, nor a simple collection of sculptures, but a journey through the unconscious, through mythology, through the darkest and most vital aspects of human existence.
**The Monsters**
Walking through the Sacred Wood means encountering a series of colossal sculptures carved directly from the peperino rock outcroppings that emerge from the ground as if they had always been there, as if the earth itself had decided to give form to its dreams and nightmares.
There is the famous Ogre, a gigantic open mouth with the inscription "Every thought flies" carved above the entrance, large enough to contain an entire room inside. There are fighting giants, a leaning house that disorients the senses, a tortoise carrying a winged Victory on its back, dragons, nymphs, elephants, Cerberus, Proteus, and Pegasus.
Each figure seems to tell a story, to hide a meaning, to speak a language that is only partially decipherable. Scholars have debated for centuries about the true meaning of this place: is it an allegory of the soul's journey? A Neoplatonic meditation on life and death? A personal expression of grief and madness? Or simply, as Vicino himself wrote, a place created "solely to unburden the heart"?
**The Dying City**
But Bomarzo is not only its famous park. The village itself is a place of rare beauty and melancholy, one of those Italian borghi that seem to be slowly returning to the earth from which they were born.
Walking through its streets means encountering ancient stone portals, crumbling facades, churches with faded frescoes, and the constant sensation of a time that has stopped. The population has dwindled over the decades, many houses stand empty, and yet the village retains an extraordinary dignity, a proud awareness of its own history.
The Orsini Palace dominates the village with its massive pentagonal structure, a fortress-residence that tells of the power and ambition of one of the most important families of Renaissance Italy. Today it is partially inhabited and partially abandoned, a perfect metaphor for the condition of the entire village.
**A Living Legacy**
Despite everything, Bomarzo is not truly dying. Every year thousands of visitors arrive from all over the world to visit the Park of the Monsters, attracted by its uniqueness and mystery. The park, which had fallen into complete abandonment after the death of Vicino Orsini and was rediscovered only in the twentieth century thanks to the interest of artists and intellectuals such as Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau, today is carefully maintained by the Bettini family, who have owned it since the 1950s.
The Sacred Wood of Bomarzo has inspired painters, writers, poets, and musicians. The Argentine composer Manuel Mujica Láinez dedicated a novel to it, and Alberto Ginastera composed an opera based on it. It has been photographed, painted, described, and interpreted in a thousand ways, and yet it continues to resist any definitive interpretation, to preserve its mystery intact.
**Visiting Bomarzo**
Bomarzo is located about 80 kilometers north of Rome and is easily reachable by car. The Park of the Monsters is open every day of the year and offers a unique experience in every season: mysterious and slightly unsettling in autumn and winter, when the mist rises between the sculptures, magical and verdant in spring and summer.
The village itself deserves a leisurely stroll, perhaps ending with a stop at one of the few local trattorias to taste the simple and genuine cuisine of Tuscia: acquacotta, wild boar, local cheeses, and the robust wines of the area.
Bomarzo is one of those places that remain in the memory long after the visit, that continue to ask questions without providing answers, that remind us how art can be born from pain and transform it into something eternal and universal.
From Civitavecchia, the Roman port founded by Trajan, one ventures into the heart of Etruscan Tuscia. The painted tombs of Tarquinia and the remains of Vulci are visited, then the route climbs toward medieval Viterbo. The highlight is Civita di Bagnoregio, the "Dying City" clinging to its tufa cliff, and the surreal Park of the Monsters of Bomarzo, an hermetic labyrinth of stone giants commissioned in the 16th century by Vicino Orsini.
Visit Tarquinia, The Etruscan Place Easy to Reach from the Port
A comfortable and well-balanced itinerary, ideal for those who want to discover the Etruscan world at a leisurely pace. From Civitavecchia, Tarquinia is just a few minutes away, offering the chance to visit Etruscopolis, the medieval historic center with its panoramic viewpoints and towers, and finally the National Etruscan Museum with the nearby Monterozzi Necropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important in Europe for the preservation of Etruscan art and culture.
Odescalchi-Orsini Ancient Castle Tour
A dive into the coastal and lakeside Middle Ages. From Civitavecchia, we travel down along the "Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea," Santa Marinella, to reach the Castle of Santa Severa, a medieval fortress with its foundations in the sand. We continue towards Cerveteri and its Banditaccia Necropolis (UNESCO), an Etruscan city of life beyond death. The journey concludes on the shores of Lake Bracciano, where the Odescalchi-Orsini Castle stands unchallenged over the waters of the volcanic crater.
