The best walks and hikes around Vitorchiano

Unfortunately, the church was closed for renovations. But the interior should have been richly decorated with frescoes. Dating back to 1503, the building features numerous frescoes by local artists, including the storming of the castle of Vitorchiano by the army of Viterbo. Outside the city walls, a few hundred metres from the city, on the road to Viterbo, stands the church of San Nicola, to which a convent of Poor Clares is annexed. The origins of the church, known to the locals as the church of the nuns, date back to the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century. Lombard craftsmen who worked in Vitorchiano at that time made an important constructive contribution. The façade, in peperino bricks, with a saddle roof, has an architrave portal topped by a lunette with above it the large round eye of the rose window, with two rectangular windows on the sides and at the top the monogram of San Bernardino da Siena. On the roof, behind the apse, a small bell gable stands out with two bells that seem to come from the ancient, nearby Ferento. The importance of the church, from an artistic point of view, is due to the numerous and beautiful frescoes of the Viterbo school that are inside and that cover all the walls of the single nave from floor to ceiling. (c) https://reteimpresevitorchiano.it/contenuti/284372/chiesa-madonna-san-nicola#

The church of the Holy Trinity or Sant'Amanzio in Vitorchiano was built by expanding a previous structure in 1476 thanks to a series of taxes on the population. In 1707 it was dedicated to Sant'Amanzio with the arrival of the relic of his body from Rome. Like the whole town, the church is in peperino and next to the simple Renaissance façade the entrance of the previous church is recognizable. In the central rose window you can recognize the Virgin crushing the serpent. The interior has a single nave and is embellished with a niche frescoed in 1514 by Valentino Pica, a 1560 canvas of the Madonna enthroned, the 13th century tabernacle and a 16th century crucifix. The veneration of Sant’Amanzio In the church there is the precious urn containing the relic of the body of Sant’Amanzio. The late-Baroque case dates back to the 17th century and is the work of Keayter Federico and is supported by sculpted winged angels. The entire work is in gilded wood and red velvet. Through the glass you can see the body of the saint resting on a pillow with one hand holding the palm of the resurrection. The saint is dressed in sumptuous clothes and in front of the body you can see the sword of the saint. Saint Amanzio, whose name means 'who loves god', was martyred in Tivoli with the saints Cereale, Getulio (his brother) and Primitivo. The saints were tied to a pole to be burned. The flames, however, did not hit the saints who were killed with sticks. They are celebrated on June 10. (c) https://www.discoverplaces.travel/it/esperienze/attivita/chiese-e-luoghi-di-culto/chiesa-della-santissima-trinita-o-di-santamanzio

The gate bears the coat of arms of Vitorchiano with the inscription SPQR (for which the village received permission from Rome). The gate is part of the old wall that extends for about two hundred and fifty metres on the south side of Vitorchiano. The tower above the gate dates from the 13th century. The old city walls (Le Mura Castellane) have several towers, each built of peperino stone and dovetail battlements with loopholes in between.

The monument in Piazza Umberto I dates from 1979 and is made of a block of grey peperino. It shows the shepherd Martius trying to extract a thorn from his foot (hence his nickname ‘Lo Spinario’, the ‘thorn-puller’). He was sent by the people of Vitorchiano to warn Rome of an impending Etruscan attack on Rome. Martius barely managed to warn senator Fabius Maximus Rullianus of the danger when he fell lifeless from exhaustion and the wound he had sustained. The Romans successfully repelled the Etruscan attack and Rome was saved.

The central square of Vitorchiano, characterized by the Palazzo Comunale. The entrance to the town hall with its characteristic bell tower is behind the thirteenth-century Fontana a fuso with the images of the four evangelists. On the left side of the square you will find the gateway leading to the oldest part of the village, the Porta Madonna della Neve.

The Fontana a fuso in Piazza Roma in Vitorchiano, in front of the bell tower, was made entirely of peperino by artists from Viterbo between 1200 and 1300. It is so called because of its resemblance to a ‘fuso’, a spool of yarn or spinning wheel. The fountain is characterized by a circular basin with a central column with a capital of broad leaves, supported by three-lobed arches with the symbols of the four evangelists: the lion symbolizing St. Mark, the calf symbolizing St. Luke, the eagle symbolizing St. John and finally the angel symbolizing St. Matthew, from whose mouths the water flows. The fountain ends in a truncated pyramid surmounted by a pointed flower and decorated with four heraldic coats of arms, including the coat of arms of Rome with the acronym S.P.Q.R..

The Tiberina Gate was the main entrance to the heart of the town, Piazza Roma, from which the people of Vitorchiano reached the vegetable gardens, olive groves and vineyards in the valley at the foot of the cliff on which the village stands. Here until the 18th century the guards guarded the entrance, an effigy recalls the plague that spread throughout Italy from Messina. Now, for trekking lovers, it is the starting and finishing point of the CAI 125 trail that through a suggestive path immersed in nature leads to the rock site of Corviano. (c) https://www.facebook.com/comunedivitorchiano/posts/la-porta-tiberina-de-ilborgosospeso-di-vitorchiano/1808768792605454/

Some beautiful human works adorn a green carpet that looks out over the ancient village of the Lazio town, surrounded by trees and equipped with benches where you can enjoy a moment of relaxation, with family and friends. (c) https://www.secretvillage.it/segreti/valle-delle-sculture