Places within a day of Rome that deserve more than a photo: Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Caprarola, Bomarzo, Tivoli. Each essay explains what you are looking at and why it was built that way. Subscribers get the free guide, with all five day trips and the practical notes to do them.
Day Trip From Rome
Two villas three kilometres apart, an emperor and a cardinal, water and ruins. Which one to choose if you have to, the order to do both in, tickets and hours, and the waterfall if you still have an hour.
Day Trip From Rome
A wood full of stone giants, a crooked house you walk into, an hour and a half with no route to follow. Tickets, the family timetable, the pushchair question, and Viterbo in the afternoon.
Day Trip From Rome
A five-sided palace at the top of a straight street, built so that you would arrive on foot. Where to park, what the ticket covers, the gardens' hours, and what to add in the afternoon.
Day Trip From Rome
A village on a crumbling cliff, a bridge to reach it, a valley of clay all around. Winter or summer, how long to stay, and the walk almost nobody takes.
Day Trip From Rome
An hour and a quarter by train, a cliff of tufa, a façade built to be seen from twenty kilometres away. What's worth the trip, what to skip, and where to stand.
Italy
Some places you visit and forget. Others follow you home. The Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola is the second kind — a fortress turned into a palace, and a whole town rebuilt to serve it.
Architecture
Everyone crosses the bridge to photograph the dying city. Almost nobody asks the real question: why do we keep building bridges to reach a place that is disappearing?
Architecture
Everyone photographs the golden facade. Almost nobody asks why it's so bright — or what holds it up. A close reading of Orvieto's cathedral, from the mosaics to the hidden engineering.