Viterbo (Part 1) - Places to visit near to Rome, Italy

If you are visiting Rome and spending a few nights in the Italian capital, and you want to get off the beaten track, it is worth spending a couple of days exploring Rome’s neighbour cities and villages.

The region around Rome, Lazio, has a lot to offer to all those tourists who love art, nature and good food and there are a lot of jewels waiting to be discovered. One of such jewels is the medieval city of Viterbo, in the area called ‘La Tuscia’, where the old civilisation of ‘Etruschi’ (older than the Romans) used to be based when the Romans took over.

Viterbo is a picturesque town on the hills, just 80 km north of Rome. It can be reached in about 2 hours by local trains, 1 and half hours by bus or just 1 hour by car. Viterbo used to be the summer residence of the popes, and it still boasts the lovely ‘Palazzo dei Papi’ (Palace of the Popes), with its characteristic Romanic arches, located in the heart of the Medieval centre of the city. The Medieval architecture of the city centre in Viterbo is perfectly preserved, together with its ancient walls. All the old buildings are made with the local volcanic stone, and walking through Viterbo’s picturesque alleys will take you back in time.

The great thing about Viterbo is that you can visit it on a day trip, i.e. you can continue rentng a vacation apartment in Rome. Great Venice apartments available include Tintoretto Rome apartment and Margherita Rome apartment.

Trevi Fountain in Rome turns red

Tourists in Rome would have had a surprise on October 19th, when visiting the Trevi Fountain. The fountain water was red and this is thought to have to be the result of a stunt by an artist.

News reports say that the artists responsible was a gentleman by the name of Graziano Cecchini according to Italian police. Cecchini has not openly admitted to the stunt but neither does he make any effort to deny it according to press reports.

It is said that the Trevi Fountain itself is not really damaged which is good news, and the event did create excitement and interest for the hundreds of tourist who got to see this strange site.

For flights to Rome try http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

Last Minute Rome apartment deals!

A quick round-up of Rome apartments new.

• If you are looking for Rome apartments and are keen on finding last minute Rome apartment deals then the new section on the Holiday-Velvet.com for dedicated to Last Minute accommodation in Rome might be worth checking out.
• Do not forget that from 4 UK destinations, 2 German and 3 French destinations, you can fly to Rome with Easyjet and the flights can often be quite well priced. View Easyjet's flight map here.
• Another last minute destination well worth considering adding onto the Rome trip is a trip to Barcelona. Also view Barcelona apartments.
• Also worth checking out are the summer deals in Cap d'Agde, France and flights to Korea for Asian offers.
• As a traveller - you might also be interested in summer jobs in Ibiza, Spain.