At approximately 4 km from Viterbo, at the slopes of the Cimini Mountains we find Bagnaia (441 meters above sea level), in the past a summer residence for high prelates.
The element of major attraction in this place is, without a doubt, Villa Lante. Designed at the beginning of 1568 by the great architect Vignola, "loaned" to Cardinal Gambara by the Farnese family, it is characterized in respect to other villas by the distinct predominance of the garden in respect to the inhabited part.
In fact, it consists of only two elegant but small symmetrical buildings placed approximately in the middle of the garden on a slope, while the garden is developed on around 22 hectares, adorned by statues, fountains, and magnificent water games.
The small but interesting historical center is divided into two well-distinct cores from the central Piazza XX Settembre. To the north the medieval core rises around the Castrum, dominates the Pierina Valley, both the road network and buildings are still purely medieval, even if here and there a little marred from sloppy restructuring. To the south, going up the hill, the elegant Renaissance quarter developed on a trident, even this constructed at the beginning of 1567 from the design of the Sienese architect, Tommaso Ghinucci, is delimited on the right by the wall of the Villa Lante.
