The best road cycling routes around Montefiascone

Lake Bolsena, located in northern Lazio in the province of Viterbo, is the largest volcanic lake in Europe and the fifth largest in Italy by surface area. Formed over 300,000 years ago, it is famous for its exceptionally clear, swimmable waters, its medieval villages rich in history, and its two picturesque islands, Bisentina and Martana.

first time I passed by this Lake, wonderful and moreover in a very strategic position for other future tours

Sorano is an ancient medieval village carved into the tuff, located in the heart of the hilly Maremma. The inhabited center is dominated by the imposing Fortezza Orsini, an example of Renaissance military architecture, and by the Masso Leopoldino, a natural fortified terrace offering a panoramic view of the entire Lente river valley. The village is characterized by a dense network of narrow alleys, stairways, and passages carved directly into the rock. Outside the inhabited area lies the archaeological park of the Vie Cave, a network of deep Etruscan paths carved into the tuff that connect the center with the surrounding necropolises.

Porta di Borgo is an imposing Baroque gateway to the old town of Montefiascone, dating from 1744. It was commissioned by Cardinal Aldovrandi, Bishop of Montefiascone.

The present basilica is the result of an architectural path started in the Roman period. There is certain evidence of St. Maria Church in Pope Leone IV privilege written around the year 850. This church preserves the body of the Blessed Flaviano Martyr, with his house and village. Unfortunately, the few architectural traces of this primitive building do not allow us to make a hypothesis on its shape and size. There is proof of a Carolingian presbytery decor from some fragments of a pluteo, a hurdle or a ciborium, found during some restoration works. In 1032 the little church of St. Maria and its ruins were completely rebuilt and dedicated to the Martyr Flaviano. An inscription set on the inside facade wall informs us about this event. The original construction displayed some particular architectural solutions. It combined, in fact, a rare balance, the two morfological tendences of the Romanesque architecture, that is, the Basilica longitudinal plan with three naves and an outer rectangular perime-ter and the radial one with a centralised plan used for the Baptistery, both in the inner plan which has largely an ovoid shape and by the apses and in the typical pseudo matroneum devel-oping as a perimeter ambulatory. Consideration has to be given to the position of the church along the sacred itinerary of the Pilgrimages. The building was situated, in fact, at the confluence of various Roman roads amongst which were those linking with Bologna and Forli. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, they added an extension to the Romanesq church creating a prolongation of two gothic pillars and their relative spans and a new faca This successful grafting of the fourteenth century building may be easily seen in the wall str ture of the building while you may see the chronology of the previous developments. chapel Defuk's tomb has been placed, the famous character who gave fame to the Est! Est! Est!!! wine, considered for centuries as the best white wine in Italy.

Beautiful old town, super beautiful tuff stone old town, mega view

incredibly beautiful, we liked it very much

beautiful place with restaurants and bars and great views of the lake