Between Lake Bolsena and the hills of Tuscia lies one of central Italy’s least known — and most surprising — landscapes: medieval villages, private gardens rarely open to the public, antique roses and a volcanic lake with an uninhabited island at its centre. Here are five places that tell the story of this land.
1. Bolsena and Its Lake
Lake Bolsena, the largest volcanic lake in Europe, is the geographical heart of this area: a medieval village looks straight out over the water, with its castle and lanes running down to the shore.
2. Paolo Pejrone’s Garden at La Torricella
In Porano, the Tenuta La Torricella estate holds a garden designed by landscape architect Paolo Pejrone, a pupil of Russell Page and Roberto Burle Marx: a private garden, rarely open to the public.
3. The Rocca Ripesena Rose Garden
Near Orvieto, Rocca Ripesena is home to a rose garden with antique and rare varieties, a small flowering world tied to Italy’s long tradition of rose cultivation.
4. Isola Martana
At the centre of Lake Bolsena, Isola Martana is uninhabited and reachable only by boat: a suspended, silent place that can be admired while sailing across the lake.
5. Civita di Bagnoregio
Nicknamed “the dying town” for the erosion that has shaped its tuff hill for centuries, Civita di Bagnoregio is reached on foot across a long pedestrian bridge: one of Italy’s most photographed villages, and one of its most fragile.
Discover Them on a Single Trip
These five places, together with the Ducrot Rose Garden in Corbara, are the stops on our Enchanting Manors and Gardens of Distinction tour, four days in a small group from 17 to 20 September between Umbria and Tuscia.
