LA TUSCIA AND CIVITA THE DYING CITY

1° Day Lago di Bolsena

Your group arrives at the Lake of Bolsena in the afternoon, and you will visit both the town and the beautiful lake. Next stop Montefiascone, a small, hillside town overlooking Lake Bolsena; along Via Cassia; famous for its wine, to be seen: the cooperative cellar, the Church of Santa Margherita and the Church of San Flaviano. Departure for Viterbo or nearby, arrival at hotel, evening meal and accommodation.

2° Day Orvieto - Civita di Bagnoregio

After breakfast in the hotel, departure for Orvieto: “ the white tuff rock rises high like a cliff, plunges down to the lush Paglia valley. A timeless island, today, as though maybe in the past it was an island in one of the Tyrrhenian gulfs, holding the city high. What visitors see is an optical illusion, because the town seems dug out of the ground rather than actually built”. Tour of this beautiful town : Rocca dell’Albornoz, the Well of San Patrizio (outside), the Belvedere Temple, the Dome, Church of Sant’Andrea, Palazzi Pubblici medievali (outside). Lunch in a restaurant. In the afternoon destination Civita di Bagnoregio, “the dying city”, a small town at the top of a tuffaceous hill in the middle of a crumbling, clay valley that time is slowly eroding. Return to hotel for evening meal and accommodation.

3° Day Tarquina - Vulci - Tuscania

After breakfast in the hotel, departure for a tour of Tarquinia, an enchanting hillside town in northern Lazio with a view of the sea, along the Via Aurelia, with many medieval monuments, but famous above all for its Etruscan necropolis. Lunch in a farm holiday centre in Tarquinia. In the afternoon a tour of Vulci and its vast archaeology area that includes the National Museum, the Etruscan Necropolis and Civita. Next stop Tuscania, a picturesque town situated on a tuffaceous plain surrounded by deep gorges. To be seen: the Church of S. Maria Maggiore, the Archaeology Museum and the Etruscan Necropolis. Return to hotel for evening meal and accommodation.

4° Day Viterbo

Breakfast in hotel, then a tour of the ancient papal town of Viterbo; to be seen: the Palazzo dei Priori, the Church of Jesus, the Dome, the Palazzo Papale and the medieval part of San Pellegrino, so characteristic with its houses that are the oldest in the whole town, all decorated with arches, loggias and outside stairways, and antique dealers at every street corner, the Church of San Francesco with the tombs of the Popes. Return to hotel for lunch.