Lazio · Viterbo
Sutri
An Etruscan and Roman town on a tuff spur, with a rock-cut amphitheater carved straight from the volcanic stone of the Cimini.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 57 min from Rome
- Population
- 6,663
Known for
ROCK AMPHITHEATER
Roman elliptical arena carved out of the tuff in the first century BC, one of the most unusual surviving amphitheaters in Italy.
ETRUSCAN NECROPOLIS
Dozens of rock-cut chamber tombs in the tuff cliffs along the Via Cassia, in continuous use from the seventh century BC.
VIA FRANCIGENA
Long-standing stage on the pilgrim road to Rome, where Sigeric in 990 recorded Sutri as Mansio XXV on his return journey.
DOP ZONES
The commune lies inside the Nocciola Romana and Tuscia DOP production zones.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J10°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J32°
- A31°
- S25°
- O20°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Sutri sits on a narrow tuff spur, fifty kilometers north of Rome on the old road linking the two. The Etruscans held it before the Romans took it in the fourth century BC, and it was among the colonies that refused further military contributions to Rome during the Second Punic War in 209 BC. The rock-cut monuments that define the town, the arena, the temple turned sanctuary, the chamber tombs, all come from the same tuff spur the town is built on, so the stone that gives Sutri its ground is also what its Etruscan and Roman residents carved into.
The high ground above, where the eighteenth-century villa and its gardens sit, looks down over that older excavated town rather than sitting apart from it. Local tradition ties the town's beans to Charlemagne, who passed through and was supposedly relieved of an attack of gout by Sutri's variety. What the place adds up to is a settlement where the town and its excavation are the same rock: nothing was built so much as removed.
Our guide
Sutri is in our Tuscia guide
Tuscia: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The land Rome took twice. 16 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Read the guideOr take the Sunday letter: one town a week, free.
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Read on
Sutri in our articles
The best hidden hill towns that eat well in the province of Viterbo6 towns, Sutri among them.
The best hill towns inside a nature park within 90 minutes of Roma6 towns, Sutri among them.
The best hill towns that eat well within 90 minutes of Roma6 towns, Sutri among them.
The best towns inside a nature park that have a serious restaurant in Lazio6 towns, Sutri among them.
How to get there
From Rome (FCO), about 1h 27m by car.
Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 3 hours away.
By car from the centre of Perugia 2 hours or Siena 2h 30m.
Coming by train into Roma Termini? Sutri is about 58 minutes away by road.
What to see
Anfiteatro Romano
Elliptical amphitheater about forty-nine by forty meters, carved directly out of the tuff rock rather than built on it.
Mithraeum / Madonna del Parto
Roman temple to Mithras hewn into the tuff and reused as a Marian sanctuary, accessed through the medieval rock-cut church.
Necropoli rupestre
Etruscan necropolis with dozens of rock-cut chamber tombs in the cliff face along the Via Cassia.
Villa Savorelli
Eighteenth-century villa on the high tuff above town, with formal Italian garden, holm-oak walks and panoramic terraces.
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Romanesque cathedral with cosmatesque pavement and a thirteenth-century crypt, on the edge of the centro storico.
Parco Regionale Antichissima Città di Sutri
Regional park of seven hectares uniting the amphitheater, necropolis, Mithraeum and Villa Savorelli grounds.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Sutri fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
N'uovo Vino e CucinaRistorante
A spot in the Michelin Guide, at N'uovo Vino e Cucina.
Through the year
What happens here
Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.
Sagra del Fagiolofood festival
usually held in August. Eventi della Tuscia - Sagre
Festeggiamenti in onore di Santa Dolcissima e San Liberatopatron saint's feast
usually held in September. TrovaSagre
Living here
- Population 6,663, up 0.1% since 2015
- In-betweeni
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest public hospital Bracciano, 16 km as the crow flies
- Full fibre reaches 81% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Nearest airport Rome, 1 h 27 min drive
- Regional capital Roma, 57 min drive
Could you live here?
Sutri meets 2 of our 2 rules for a small town.
- 6,663 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Viterbo, a city of 65,949, is 45 minutes 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. The rest of the series, and the best towns to move to, arrive in the Sunday letter.
The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter
Common questions
- What is Sutri known for?
- Sutri is an Etruscan and Roman town on a tuff spur, with a rock-cut amphitheater carved straight from the volcanic stone of the Cimini.
- Where is Sutri?
- Sutri is a comune in the province of Viterbo, in Lazio, at 291 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Sutri?
- Rome (FCO), about 1h 27m by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Sutri?
- About 2 hours by car.
- When is the best time to visit Sutri?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Sutri?
- Yes. Sagra del Fagiolo and Festeggiamenti in onore di Santa Dolcissima e San Liberato. August is when the first of them falls.
- Which other towns are like Sutri?
- Capranica, Castelnuovo di Porto and Acquapendente.
- How many people live in Sutri?
- 6,663 at the 2023 count.
- Is Sutri a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Sutri is a small town that meets 2 of our 2 rules. The nearest city, Viterbo, is 45 minutes away by car. The nearest public hospital is in Bracciano, 16 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 81% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 291 m
- Population: 6,663
- Surface area: 60.94 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.
Featured on
Sutri appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
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