Bomarzo

Bomarzo is a small town in northern Lazio in Italy, famous for its park of stone monsters.



By bus
Take a regional bus from Viterbo railway station (check with the schedules). The bus route starts at the Riello /p.zza G.Bruno bus terminal, but the closest bus stop to the railway station is v.le Trieste /N.Sauro-Gorizia. A journey take about 1/2 hour. Alternatively the same bus but in the opposite direction could be caught at the Orte Scalo railway station.

Get off at the at a small roundabout at Bomarzo. Walk downhill 400 m northwards via to the historical centre of the village. At the tiny piazza Matteotti turn left a bit uphill into the village until you come to the back facade of the Palazzo Orsini next to a small parking lot.

By car
From the Rome-Florence A1 Autostrada leave at Attigliano and follow signs to Bomarzo.

Park of the Monsters
During the 19th century and into the 20th the garden became overgrown and neglected, but in the 1970s a program of restoration was carried out. The garden is today a major tourist attraction and is guaranteed to entertain children who may be getting a bit fed up with medieval hill towns.

Statues and fountains include Pegasus, Hannibal’s Elephants, an Orc, a dragon attacked by dogs, a turtle with a giant woman on its back, a two-tailed mermaid, a giant and Aphrodite, an ogre’s head as the “Mouth of Hell” and many more. There is also a strange little house which leans sharply to one side and is great fun to go inside. Carvings of acorns are all over the place, presumably a reference to the Della Rovere family that owned the local castle (Rovere meaning oak in Italian).

Buy
The park has a souvenir shop.

Eat
There is a small restaurant attached to the park and a selection of restaurants in the nearby town.

Sleep
There is a couple of hotels in the "newer" part of the village, some holiday houses for rent. There is also an agritourism establishment next to the park.

Go next

 * Villa Lante - A villa with another Mannerist (while more traditional) garden
 * Giardino dei Tarocchi – a far more modern sculpture garden, which was partly inspired by Sacro Bosco