Lazio · Viterbo
Bomarzo
The Tuscia village below a garden built by a condottiero and later dedicated to his dead wife, all stone monsters and no apology for it.
By Peter Benei
Written about. No. 65.
The letter
Bomarzo got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 19 min from Rome
- Population
- 1,679
- J11°
- F14°
- M15°
- A19°
- M24°
- J29°
- J34°
- A33°
- S27°
- O22°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Bomarzo sits on a lava spur of the Monti Cimini, fifteen kilometers east of Viterbo, on the wooded edge of the Tuscia. The village is small and medieval, dominated by the palazzo above it, its lanes stepping down to a lower piazza. The wooded valley below holds the reason most people come: the Sacro Bosco, also called the Parco dei Mostri, designed for Vicino Orsini's garden by Pirro Ligorio, with sculptures attributed to Simone Moschino.
The garden was abandoned for centuries before the Bettini family restored it in the 1950s; Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau visited in the 20th century, drawn by the same strangeness that had emptied the place out. What the town adds up to is a pairing of restraint and excess set close together: a modest hill village and medieval rocca standing over a valley where one man built monsters in stone.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 1 h 27 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 3 h 3 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 39 min or Siena 1 h 56 min.
Coming by train into Roma Termini? Bomarzo is about 1 h 20 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Sacro Bosco (Parco dei Mostri)
Stone giants, an ogre's mouth carved into the bedrock with a bench inside it as a tongue, and a house built to lean. The inscriptions across the rocks make clear the intent was to astonish rather than please.
Palazzo Orsini
Built into the medieval rocca above the village, now partly a school and museum.
Centro storico
Medieval village on a lava spur, with stepped lanes leading from the lower piazza up to the palazzo.
Piramide Etrusca
Pre-Etruscan or Etruscan altar carved into the bedrock in the woods near the village, rediscovered in the 1990s.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta
Parish church in the village center, with a Cosmatesque-style floor and 16th-century frescoes.
Living here
Could you live here?
Bomarzo is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,679. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Soriano nel Cimino, is 19 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Viterbo, a city of 66,393, is 35 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 1,679, down 7.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Viterbo, 35 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Amelia, 15 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €550 to €900 per m² to buy, €2.60 to €3.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 83% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rome Ciampino airport (CIA), 1 h 17 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 19 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Bangladesh, against 9% across Italy. 19 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany. There are 260 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 43% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Viterbo province ranks 71st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Amelia, 15 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 35 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 14 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Lazio spends about €2,270 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €647 a year for water, on the Lazio average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 4% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
SACRO BOSCO
Vicino Orsini's 16th-century stone-monster garden, attributed to Pirro Ligorio, later dedicated to his wife Giulia Farnese.
ORSINI
The condottiero family who held Bomarzo from the medieval period and built both the Palazzo above and the garden below.
NOCCIOLA DEI MONTI CIMINI
Hazelnut growing area surrounding the village; Bomarzo is a member of the Città della Nocciola network.
TUSCIA
The commune also lies inside the Tuscia DOP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Bomarzo known for?
- Bomarzo is the Tuscia village below a garden built by a condottiero and later dedicated to his dead wife, all stone monsters and no apology for it.
- Where is Bomarzo?
- Bomarzo is a comune in the province of Viterbo, in Lazio, at 263 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Bomarzo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rome Ciampino (CIA), about 1 h 17 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Bomarzo?
- About 1 h 39 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Bomarzo?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 34 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Bomarzo?
- Bassano in Teverina, Arrone and Allerona.
- How many people live in Bomarzo?
- 1,679 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Bomarzo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Bomarzo is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Soriano nel Cimino, is 19 min away. The nearest city, Viterbo, is 35 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Amelia, 15 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 83% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 263 m
- Population: 1,679
- Surface area: 39.65 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 75.
Amelia
Province: Terni
A pre-Roman hilltown ringed by polygonal walls, with ten barrel-vaulted Roman cisterns beneath its main square.
16 km away
- Written about. No. 63.
Caprarola
Province: Viterbo
A Cimini hill town above Lago di Vico, dominated by the pentagonal Villa Farnese that Vignola built for the Farnese cardinals between 1559 and 1573.
17 km away
- Written about. No. 80.
Montecchio
Province: Terni
A small hill commune at 377 meters above the Tiber, sitting on top of one of Umbria's largest Etruscan-tied necropolises.
21 km away
The letter
Bomarzo got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.