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    Being a part of Castiglione in the Teverina district, this small village has at the bottom the rivers ‘il Fosso Cieco’ (or di Vionica) and ‘il Rio Chiaro’ (or Fossatello), which are situated 346 meters from the sea, near to the city of Viterbo.       In the village there is an ancient castle which is still inhabited by some of the village’s population. Even though there are no more than 100 persons living in the village, it has three small churches, two open until 10 PM, pubs, and one shop (where you can buy both vegetables, detergents, clothes and other household items).   Around the castle, there are ancient houses built by stones which are still very well kept. Each place is surrounded by flowers. The inhabitants are old (as their children moved out to Viterbo, Rome or other cities), kind and friendly.   If you learn a little bit of Italian and are able to say ‘hi’ to them, you can be invited inside their home fo...

Everywhere I go, everywhere I look, I am surrounded by history. It’s like I am cursed with seeing things from the past.     Well, I am finding myself in Viterbo, an Italian fortress situated 80Km North of Rome, surrounded by the mountains:   Monti Cimini and Monti Volsini. The place was an Etruscan settlement called Surenna.   The Roman army destroyed the Etruscan centres but benefited greatly from this civilisation.   The city is one the best preserved places in central Italy in terms of architecture.   The first report of the city dates to the eighth century CE, when it is identified as Castrum Viterbii. It was fortified in 773 by the Lombard King Desiderius in his vain attempt to conquer Rome. When the popes switched to the Frankish support, Viterbo became part of the Papal States, but this status was to be highly contested by the emperors in the following centuries, until 1095 from which it is known that it became a free commun...