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A Stroll through HistoryWalk across the Etruscan Plains
Nights: 7
Starting point: Hotel Filippeschi (3*), Orvieto. Converted from a 14th-century mansion that once belonged to the Filippeschi family, this is a smart and friendly hotel located in the heart of the old town. Breakfast only is included, leaving you free to take your pick of the local restaurants for dinner. If there is time on arrival, take a stroll through the ancient streets. In addition to an ornate, polychrome cathedral (one of the most celebrated Gothic buildings in Italy) the walled town boasts a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Day 1: your first walk begins with a transfer to a viewpoint from where you can look back to Orvieto to fully appreciate its superb setting on a 300-metre-high outcrop of volcanic rock that rises almost sheer from the valley floor. Seen from afar like this, it is easy to understand why the Etruscans chose it as the site for one of the twelve cities in their federation. Setting off along wide tracks and well-defined paths, you soon leave Umbria and enter Lazio, crossing a colourful patchwork of rolling, open farmland before descending slowly via the old town of Bolsena to the shore of Italy’s largest volcanic lake which occupies a huge crater. (15.5km, 4hrs) Accommodation: Hotel Holiday (4*), Bolsena. This is an intimate, modern hotel complete with an outdoor pool. The location is excellent, right on the shores of Lake Bolsena. Again, breakfast only is included so that you can make the most of the numerous small restaurants in the town, many of which specialise in delicious lake fish. Day 2: today you can explore Bolsena’s attractive old quarter in more detail. Narrow alleyways hide a 13th-century church and another church with a Renaissance façade and a Romanesque interior, all presided over by a 14th-century castle which nowadays hosts a small collection of Roman and Etruscan artefacts. You may also like to take a boat trip around the lake for a different perspective on the landscape (pay locally) or enjoy a circular walk through the fertile cultivated land and olive groves surrounding the lake. One section leads along the medieval pilgrim’s route, Via Francigena, in the hills above the lake. (8.5km, 2.5hrs) Accommodation: Hotel Holiday, as above. Day 3: this very varied walk starts with a transfer into Tuscany, after which you walk past the ancient colony of Vitozza, the most important troglodytic settlement in Italy. You continue via a deep wooded valley and follow the River Lente to the magical hill-top town Sorano, considered by many to be the finest example of a tufa village, which you have time to explore. Setting off once more, you notice that the landscape is now characterised by this porous rock, and you follow a deep, leafy via cava hewn from the rock, passing an Etruscan necropolis and, a little later, a splendid viewing platform over Sorano. You finish with a section across open farmland and through vineyards to delightful Sovana. (16.5km, 5hrs) Accommodation: Albergo Scilla e Locanda della Taverna Etrusca (3*), Sovana. Converted from an attractive stone house whose exposed stone walls and archways have been retained, this is a stylishly rustic hotel in which many bedrooms are furnished with wrought iron beds. Day 4: you have two options for your day in Sovana. The first is to follow a remarkable via cava to the even more extraordinary Etruscan town of Pitigliano. Set atop high tufa cliffs which lend it the appearance of being suspended in the sky, the town's different quarters are linked by the sweeping arches of a 16th-century aqueduct. There are numerous Etruscan tombs hewn from the cliffs, an imposing fortress (in which there is a museum displaying Etruscan finds) and a network of caves which nowadays are used as wine cellars, but the town is best known for its Jewish quarter. You can wander through the narrow streets and visit the old ghetto (complete with a bakery) as well as the ruins of the synagogue. Alternatively, if you don't want to do much walking, you could visit the Etruscan necropolis near Sovana (pay locally), entirely carved out of the tufa rock. Marked trails help you to explore the two main sites of the archaeological park. (11km, 4hrs or 9km, 3.5hrs) Accommodation: Albergo Scilla e Locanda della Taverna Etrusca, as above. Day 5: after a transfer, you cross lightly wooded hills and open countryside, descending gradually to the walled Etruscan town of Saturnia. You continue beyond this across more open farmland to the outskirts of Montemerano. (15km, 4hrs) Accommodation: Podere Santa Croce (agriturismo), Montemerano. Set by itself on the edge of Montemerano amid young olive groves, orchards and vineyards, this is a charming, typically Tuscan farmhouse and organic farm. The interior has been carefully renovated, the bedrooms decorated with a simple elegance (many have terracotta tiled floors and beamed ceilings). There is a bar and an outdoor pool in which to relax, and in the evenings you enjoy traditional regional cuisine in the rustic restaurant. Day 6: your final walk, which can be shortened if you so wish, heads through medieval Montemerano, an interesting walled village which is well worth exploring. The route continues across farmland to Saturnia, encircled by Etruscan walls, and leads along a Roman road, the Via Clodia, to the aquamarine rock pools and beautiful cascades created by the town's hot sulphur springs, in which you can bathe. (up to 17km, 5hrs) Accommodation: Podere Santa Croce or Relais Villa Acquaviva, as above. Walking chart: the chart gives the distance and an approximation of the ascents and descents involved each day. If comparing holidays, please note the scale of each chart as this can differ.
Recommendations for extra nights: the Hotel Filippeschi is a good choice to give you extra time to discover intriguing Orvieto; an extra night at the Albergo Scilla e Locanda della Taverna Etrusca (Sovana) will allow you to visit both Pitigliano and the necropolis; or choose the Podere Santa Croce (Montemerano) for a day of relaxation. Alternatively, you could make a 12-night holiday by combining this walk with From the Tuscan Hills to the Sea. Walking from Umbria to the Argentario Peninsula, you discover art cities, lakes, rolling countryside, archaeological remains, thermal baths, mountains, sea, islands and delicious gastronomy - Italy in a nutshell! Extension: if you are flying via Rome, enjoy the treasures of the city by adding two nights at the 3-star Hotel Mozart situated close to the famous Spanish Steps. Other information: if you would like to see the brochure page, you can download this (and the pages for any other holidays you are interested in) by using our brochure creation system. Similar holidays: Hill-Top Towns of Tuscany (grade 1-2), From the Tuscan Hills to the Sea (grade 1-2), The Tuscan Heartland (grade 2), Sunflowers & Abbeys (grade 1-2), From the Tarn to the Aveyron (grade 1-2), Villages of the Dordogne (grade 1-2), Paths to Rocamadour (grade 1-2) Prices & travel 2008:
Recommended destination airport: Rome Extra night prices 2008 (extra nights can be booked at any hotel):
> Notes on prices > Any queries? Let us call you back > Booking form (if you want to upgrade the last hotel, remember to state this in step 4)  |
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Between the River Tiber, which flows to the Mediterranean via Rome, and the River Arno, on whose banks nestles Florence, stretches a landscape characterised by rolling farmland, volcanic lakes, ancient woodland, olive groves and outcrops of porous tufa stone. It was here that the mysterious Etruscans, a powerful pre-Roman civilisation which revered its dead, settled in the 9th century BC. In building a series of walled cities and carving ravine-like sunken ‘roads’ and necropolises into the stone, they left numerous reminders of their presence which remain to this day. Our gentle, truly fascinating walk leads from Umbria, across Lazio and into Tuscany, revealing a little-known corner of Italy and allowing you plenty of time to admire some of the many marks the Etruscans left on the land.
Open farmland, day 1 
