Want to extend your trip to Italy? Here are 5 perfect places for a weekend break

16.01.2025 - 17:49 / lonelyplanet.com

Jan 16, 2025 • 12 min read

If there’s one thing we can all agree on about Italy, it’s that it always leaves us wanting more. The landscapes, the architecture, the history, the art, the food – how one can board their return flight, we’ll never know. Solution: tack on an extra weekend and go somewhere you’ve never been.

Whether you’re contemplating pushing back your flight or want to explore beyond the most popular cities, here’s how to spend five ultimate weekend breaks across Italy.

The region around the city of Viterbo has (largely) remained under the radar for most visitors. Yet, it holds myriad treasures: fabulous Renaissance castles and gardens, Roman amphitheaters, a mosaic of mountains and olive groves, picturesque villages and dramatic hilltop settlements, and a wealth of Etruscan remains.

Where to stay: At the end of a long pine-lined road and surrounded by olive groves and fields, Tenuta di Paternostro, near Vetralla, offers five chic suites in the heart of a working farm that also offers equine therapy and wellness retreats.

How to get around: Fly into Rome, and Viterbo is about an hour and a half’s drive northwest. Direct trains also run between Rome and Viterbo, about an hour and 40 minutes. It’s a 40-minute drive from Viterbo to Tarquinia.

When to go: Among Tuscia’s traditional festivals, the most famous is the annual procession of the Macchina di Santa Rosa, an illuminated 30m-high (98ft) tower built to honor Viterbo’s patron saint. On the evening of September 3, one hundred men – known as Facchini di Santa Rosa – carry the macchina through the town, a grand spectacle.

Explore an Etruscan realm of the dead 

The Necropoli di Tarquinia (also known as Monterozzi) dates to the 7th century BCE and comprises about 6000 tombs, some 200 of which are adorned with fabulous frescoes. Of the 20 or so tombs open to the public, one of the most beautiful is the Tomba dei Leopardi, with a rich banquet scene complete with dancers and musicians. End your Etruscan adventure at the superb Museo Archeologico Nazionale Tarquiniense in the pretty medieval town of Tarquinia. 

Stroll through ravishing Renaissance gardens

In Bagnaia, the Villa Lante’s buildings feel like mere ornaments to the garden, which features fountains, an ingenious water cascade and, at the bottom, a perfectly manicured parterre. In Vignanello, Castello Ruspoli features a beautifully maintained formal garden, first laid out in 1611. The region’s most eccentric 16th-century garden is Bomarzo’s Parco dei Mostri (Park of Monsters), scattered with sculpted animals, ogres, giants and dragons.

Visit Viterbo’s lakes 

Of the two volcanic lakes near Viterbo, Bolsena is the larger and offers a wide range of activities – sailing, kayaking, fishing,