50 Years In Italy: tourism Viterbo

Showing posts with label tourism Viterbo. Show all posts

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Day Trips from Viterbo

Genius Loci of Villa Lante, Bagnaia

Living in the layer cake of history that is Italy, it is easy to visit Roman, medieval and Renaissance sites all in the same day.

a corner of Bagnaia "di dentro"

With the first real spring weather that is just

what we did this weekend.

ticket collector and cats

While others biked or jogged in the parks and roads around Viterbo, we took half day trips to some of the area’s special historical sites.

Chain fountain, Villa Lante

Marco Zanardi at entrance to Villa Lante

Saturday afternoon was dedicated to Villa Lante in Bagnaia where guide Marco Zanardo explained the Renaissance garden’s history and the philosophy of the cardinals Gambara and Montalto Peretti who created it in the 1500s.

medieval piazza, Bagnaia

Sunday morning was dedicated to Ferento, the Roman city destroyed by the Viterbese in the 11^th century and now a pastoral area studded with remnants of centuries of habitation.

horses graze at entrance to Ferento

Vincenzo, our archeologist-guide

Ferento theatre's black cat

Roman building blocks

mosaics, arches, brick and mortar

I was happy to see that the SYA (School Year Abroad) students are participating in a study project at Ferento along with archeologists of the Università della Tuscia.

Roman road brought back to light by SYA students

Both these outings were marked by sunny weather, interesting encounters, well versed guides and a series of beautiful cats who accompanied the humans who came to visit their territory.

Siamese of Bagnaia

We were happy to meet professional photographer Maurizio Di Giovancarlo whose work will entice you to visit the area.

Your comments are welcome as well as suggestions for other special places to visit near Rome, Civitavecchia and Viterbo.

For those in Rome on Tuesday March 25th, I hope to see you at the presentation of my latest book
ETRURIA STORIE E SEGRETI
to be held at the prestigious library of

Fondazione Besso, Largo di Torre Argentina,11
on the first floor.

Time 5 p.m.

Speakers : Francesca Ceci, Cristina Carosi, Luca Pesante

Copies of the book are available in Rome at Libreria dei Viaggiatori, Via dei Pellegrino,78 near Campo dei Fiori and at Anglo American Bookshop, Via della Vite near the Spanish Steps.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Boosting Tourism in Viterbo

E. Frangipane, A. Delli Iaconi, G.Curti, A.R. De Alexandris at new BIC center

This week saw two important events in Viterbo for boosting tourism: a visit of an international meeting, Certess, organized by the Lazio Region and the 16^th international workshop BUY Lazio. The first took place in the new building of BIC Lazio, once the city's slaughter house.

Recycling an old building to new use

CERTESS workshop with G.Curti & Bruno Blanco

international delegates

translating for BIC workshop

I was happy to be involved as translator, meeting people from Palma di Majorca, Finland, Croatia, Poland and several other European countries.

pilgrim guide to Papal Palace

The visit included a workshop, discussion and exploration of Viterbo’s medieval quarter accompanied by an authentically dressed medieval pilgrim (Massimiliano Vinci) who led the group along the old pilgrims’ route, Via di S. Clemente, to the Duomo and Papal Palace.

The guests were surprised to see how coins were minted at the workshop of Maestro Marco Guglielmi who also dressed the part. This eclectic artisan works in ceramics as well as coinage and has published several books.

Master coin maker

Throughout the weekend Viterbo was bustling with over 200 delegates at the 16^th edition of Buy Lazio,where buyers and sellers meet to exchange information and offers for touristic services. The workshop is held in the ancient papal palace whose soaring arches and tufa stone halls recall the papal court which met here in the 13th century.

Buy Lazio stands

Snappily dressed young men and girls (with dangerously high heels considering the cobblestones and steep stairs) were busy promoting the folklore, traditions, gastronomy archeology, environment and special itineraries that exist for tourists in the five provinces of the Lazio region: Latina, Roma, Rieti, Frosinone and Viterbo.

red carpet at the Papal Palace

Buyers converged on Viterbo from 24 different countries as far away as Mexico, Norway and Russia with a large percentage from central and eastern European countries (Slovenia,Ukraine,Slovakia Luthuania, Hungary, Austria,Poland) and Scandinavia (Norway, Finland,Denmark, Estonia Sweden).
As I write, on Sunday morning, the foreign participants are being treated to a post-workshop tour of Tuscania, Bolsena and Tarquinia before heading back to their respective countires.

Things have changed in these past 16 years: instead of reams of papers and heavy catalogues appointments are now set up electronically so that face to face meetings and exchange of business cards are all that is needed to make contacts leading to a future of sustainable tourism for the Viterbo area and all of Lazio.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Getting to Know Viterbo

Santa Rosa sanctuary and our group of explorers

After 20 years here in Etruria (aka Tuscia Viterbese) I have learned a lot about the area, but every day brings new surprises as I recently learned during an informative exploratory walk with local guide Daniela (see her website).

We met in front of the Teatro Unione

For a couple of hours last Sunday morning, together with a small group organized by the Pro Loco, we rambled the tiny streets of the historic center visiting artists’ studios, artisans' workshops and ancient churches. Check my website for an inside look at the artisans' workshops.