The best traffic-free bike rides around Lago di Vico

Small medieval part of town that has only dead-end streets.

Capranica is a village in Tuscia, built on a tuff cliff between the Cimini Mountains and the Mignone River valley. Its origins are Etruscan, but the center we see today retains its medieval charm, with narrow streets, arches, ancient gates, and evocative churches such as that of Santa Maria Maddalena. Hazelnut groves, olive groves, and woods extend all around, creating a distinctive landscape. It's a pleasant stop on the Via Francigena, where history and nature meet in an authentic and welcoming atmosphere.

...easy to ride...well...nature reserve - dirt road/dirt, potholed track, but rideable with a bike/luggage. The prohibition signs probably only apply to cars, etc. A police officer even opened the barrier for me at the end.

Capranica, an extraordinary town in the province of Viterbo crossed by the Via Francigena dominated by the lush "Marco Forest" (short for Marcone), has ancient origins and extraordinary testimonies of its past, such as the religious architecture of the churches of Madonna del Piano, San Pietro, San Francesco, Madonna del Cerreto, San Terenziano, Madonna delle Grazie; such as the civil architecture of the Forlani Palaces, Montenero Sansoni, the Porta di Sant'Antonio, the portal of the Hospital of San Sebastiano; such as the military architecture of Anguillara Castle. Palazzo Accoramboni, built between 1571 and 1579 according to a design by the architect Giacomo del Duca, Michelangelo's only student, houses the municipality of Capranica,

The three towers, of different ages and designs, stand in the Vico Matrino area, inside a hazelnut grove, together with piles of rubble from other probably similar buildings. These are two funerary monuments from the Roman era from the 1st century BC. C, and of a bell tower belonging to a Benedictine church, dating back to the 10th century "Sancta Maria in campis", of which the portal remains, reused as the entrance to the ancient Hospital of San Sebastiano in Capranica. The most imposing is made up of a square base, surmounted by a cylindrical body, sixteen meters high overall. Originally it was most likely covered with slabs of peperino stone and the niches seen on the surface may have contained bas-reliefs with images of the deceased from the rich families of the vicus. According to legend, Orlando, the brave paladin of Charlemagne, king of the Franks, wandered around these lands in ancient times in search of adventures and when he was tired he loved to rest with his companions in arms in the shade of the large oaks, which characterized the site at the time. In fact, Charles, king of the Franks, came to Italy several times against the Lombards and at Christmas 19th century in St. Peter's, Pope Leo III crowned him Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It is documented that the Frankish army, following the ancient Via Cassia, then Francigena, stopped in the territory of Sutri, of which Vicus Matrini was part at the time; the area, at the time covered by an oak forest, could constitute a ideal environment for a knights' camp. Perhaps the legend, derived from the fantastic world of the Chansons de gestes and the Chanson de Roland, contains some foundation. https://www.iluoghidelsilenzio.it/torri-dorlando-capranica-vt/

For overnight stays, we ended the journey at Lake Vico and then moved to Caprarola to visit the splendid Palazzo Farnese, or Villa Farnese, one of the most fascinating examples of a Renaissance residence in all of Europe. A journey full of history that would have deserved many stops, but we still had to get to the planned destination... It has five floors, dozens of rooms, frescoed halls, public and private spaces and a park with dream gardens. Its origins, in fact, date back to 1530. The building consists of five floors, including the basement, and is surrounded by a large moat. It has a pentagonal shape and a circular internal courtyard. The palace is accessed via a double staircase, whose ramps first diverge and then converge towards the main door. The servants' areas were separated from the cardinal's area and were even obtained from the thickness of the walls. Vignola was also the author of the frescoes on the internal staircase (the Scala Regia). It is a magnificent spiral staircase resting on 30 Doric columns. Legend has it that the steps were so wide that the cardinal reached the main floor directly on horseback. Over the course of twenty years, numerous illustrious painters decorated the rooms with frescoes of mythological and geographical subjects and with episodes from the history of the Farnese family: the brothers Federico and Taddeo Zuccari, Jacopo Zanguidi (known as il Bertoja) a pupil of Parmigianino, Raffaellino da Reggio and John de Vecchi. The cardinal's bedroom, the Camera dell'Aurora, and the celebrity room, known as the Stanza dei Fasti Farnesiani, decorated with frescoes that summarize the life of the Farnese family, are located on the noble floor. Next, we find the Sala dei Fasti di Ercole masterfully decorated by the Zuccari Brothers with the depiction of the mythological creation of Lake Vico. One of the most representative rooms of the building is the Stanza delle Geografiche or the Mappamondo, which takes its name from the frescoes by Giovanni Antonio da Varese depicting the world then known from the descriptions of travellers. This room contains an even more fascinating work, a singular representation of the Zodiac in the vaulted ceiling. From the highest floors of the building you can enjoy a spectacular view: Monte Soratte, Terminillo, the Sabatini Mountains, the valleys and the woods.

After the barrier from the main road, a short climb leads to the top where there are large antennas, the view is obstructed by the large trees but it is worth getting there for the beautiful descent that takes you back to the main road towards S. Martino al Cimino.

Right finish line inside the Woods....