Top Reasons to Go

Ostia Antica: This excavated port city of ancient Rome is brimming with ruins, mosaics, and structures, which convey a picture of every day life in the empire.

Tivoli's Villa d'Este: Hundreds of fountains cascading and shooting skyward (one even plays music on organ pipes) will delight you at this spectacular garden.

Castelli Romani: Be a Roman for a day and enjoy an escape to the ancient hilltop wine towns on the city's doorstep.

Viterbo: This town may be modern, but it has a Gothic papal palace, a Romanesque cathedral, and the magical medieval quarter of San Pellegrino. It's also the gateway to the terme (hot springs) closest to Rome.

Bizarre and beautiful gardens: The 16th-century proto-Disneyland Parco dei Mostri (Monster Park) is famed for its fantastic sculptures; the stately Villa Lante, a few miles away, is a postcard-perfect Renaissance garden of swirling, manicured hedges.