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Visit the monsters
Hello everyone. We will be in Rome in October and one of the days I would like to visit Bomarzo Park/Monster Park. I think we all get overwhelmed with architecture and churches and emperors and museums after a couple of days, so I thought this would be a nice change of pace. Anyway, I have looked into private transfer to and from ,but it is cost prohibitive. I have also read some articles about taking the train from Rome to Bomarzo (maybe Attigliano), but there doesn’t appear to be taxi service available for the last 5 miles to the park. I did see that there is a bus from a different train station, but that still leaves you with a very steep walk to the park. I also read that there are no taxis in Bomarzo and that it would be nearly impossible to arrange drop off and pick up. Is this true? Is there some way to take the train to the Attigliano station and then arrange a ride to and from the park? Any advice would be great. Maybe I’m missing something. |
The official site for Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo recommends a train to either Viterbo or Orte Scalo and then Cotral bus.
https://www.sacrobosco.it/eng/enter.php https://www.cotralspa.it |
Finding the Cotral timetable for a future date seems to be impossible at the cotralspa link.
Google Maps says the walk from the town of Bomarzo to the Parco dei Mostri is one mile. Downhill going but uphill coming back. But Google also does not show a bus stop in Bomarzo so the walk could be shorter or longer. If you're staying at a hotel in Rome, you could ask them if they know how to do this excursion by public transportation. Stefano Rome Tours offers a full-day excursion to the Parco including other stops. It sounds very nice if expensive. I wonder if you could negotiate a half-day to just the Parco.... https://www.stefanorometours.com/tou...ers-and-myths/ |
Jean- That is one of the companies I have looked at for the trip. There are a few who do it , but all at about the same cost. I hadn’t considered requesting a half day to just the park. I’ll have to see if that is an option. Ellenem- I had seen that also. The bus and walk is not ideal with that uphill climb on the way back. I’m not sure my rapidly aging body is up to it and my husband has a bad back so there is that. Thank you for the responses. |
I hope you report back either way. I'm sure others would want to hear whether or not you were able to do this excursion.
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I'm not sure the park is worth the hassle of getting there. On the Italian TripAdviser site, it doesn't get great reviews. Many visitors say that there is little information about the history and significance of the statues, and that the area is not well maintained, and that, basically, it's not worth the entrance fee. If you go, I would recommend a guided tour, but if it's really not worth the €11 entrance fee, its surely not worth the cost of a private tour.
There are lots of day trips you could take if you're looking for some fresh air and a break from art and history. For example, you could visit the famous water gardens of the Villa d'Este in Tivoli. Or one of the seaside towns near Rome (Santa Marinella, Nettuno, Anzio). Or Lake Bracciano, or the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto, or one of the towns in the Castelli Romani region. All of these are easily reached by public transportation. In the immediate vicinity of the Monster Park, the Villa Lante is easier to reach and is well worth a visit. It has vast water gardens, a few mazes, and even some stone sculptures of mythological creatures, just like the park in Bomarzo. |
Cjar, if you're still trying to get to Bomarzo, there is a tour run by True Blue Italy through Viator that isn't the $900. The tour includes both Bomarzo and Civita di Bagnoregio and costs $120 each. It's a maximum of 9 people. They do say they need a minimum but didn't indicate what the minimum was, so I guess you could sign up for it and end up with it cancelled due to not enough people. But this is a more affordable way to get there. If you want some good scenery of Bomarzo, check out the 1962 movie Rome Adventure with Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette!
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Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of the input. It seems this trip was not meant to be. I have looked at all of the mentioned options and not found a way to get there that made sense financially and was a good use of out time/energy. It did seem like something that our family would enjoy and many of the transfer operators make a stop at either Villa Lante or other locations. It just wasn’t cost effective for us. At a cost of $500- $568 for a transfer, there were many other ways we’d rather spend that money. I had really thought that we’d be able to train to a nearby destination and then just take a taxi to/ from the park. Anyway, thank you again for all of the input. We may consider the train to Tivoli. As beautiful as I’m sure it is, we were really looking for something really unusual. Happy travels to all. |
I'd still ask around when you get to Rome...
Did you email the park for any advice? Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo - Viterbo |
You should be able to get a taxi from Viterbo.
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The "monsters" in the park are actually statues of mythological creatures, which were a very popular garden decoration, in the form of fountains and statues, during the Baroque period. So they're not really all that unusual, but the name "Monster Park" attrcts more visitors than "Baroque Statue Park" would. You can see such "monsters" even in central Rome, for example,Trevi fountain and the fountains in Piazza Navona have them. The water garden at the Villa d'Este has many, as does the Villa Lante, which I mentioned above.
This type of sculpture is called "grottesque" (grottesca in Italian). The style became popular when the "Golden House" of the ancient Roman emperor Nero was discovered in the 16th century. At that time, the house was covered by a mound of earth, and it was first entered from above. The ceiling, which was all that could be seen at first, was covered with paintings of plants and strange mythological creatures. At first, people thought it was a cave, "grotta" in Italian, so they called the figures of mythological creatures "grottesche". Later, when they began to excavate, they realized it was part of an enormous palace, and that it was the long-lost palace of Nero. Many artists, including Raphael, came to see the paintings. Since the room was nearly filled with earth, they could get up close to examine the paintings and make copies. (With binoculars, you can even still see graffiti on the ceiling.) The grottesque style was widely copied, especially with sculpture, and remained popular for over 200 years. |
By the way, if your family includes kids, you might want to organize a "monster hunt" in Rome. You can find examples to show them with a Google search for "Rome grottesque sculpture". (Select the "images" tab.) Or you could take them to see the "monsters" at Trevi Fountain, or in Piazza Navona. Then challenge them to find other monsters.
By the way, because of excessive numbers of visitors, Rome now closes off access to the lower level of Trevi Fountain at busy times. Since the crowd can easily be 10 deep, and at a greater distance from the fountain, it requires a lot of patience to get close enough for a good view, or for a photo. It's best to go there very early or very late. |
Thank you bvlenci. Very informative. I learned the timing issue for Trevi Fountain on our first trip. We saw it in the middle of the day and it was the least pleasant experience of our trip. As we were leaving Rome, however, we drove past at about 5 am and it was tourist free, beautiful, and very moving. |
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