Bracciano

Every guidebook to Rome mentions the day trips to Tivoli or Ostia, and almost none of them mention Bracciano, which baffles me because it’s the easiest and most rewarding of the lot. Take the regional train from Roma San Pietro — about an hour, no reservation needed, the kind of unglamorous commuter line that somehow deposits you at the edge of a volcanic crater lake ringed by hills and one genuinely spectacular medieval castle. I went expecting a pleasant afternoon and ended up staying until the last train back, annoyed at myself for not having discovered it years earlier.

A Castle That Actually Looks Like a Castle

Castello Orsini-Odescalchi dominates the town from a bluff above the lake, and it is exactly what a child would draw if you asked them to draw a castle — crenellated towers, a drawbridge, thick stone walls the color of honey in late afternoon light. It was begun in 1470 by Napoleone Orsini and expanded over the following decades, later passing to the Odescalchi family, who still partly own it today. The interior is remarkably intact: frescoed halls, a Renaissance loggia, armor and tapestries displayed in rooms that feel lived-in rather than roped-off. It’s famous in Italy for a more recent reason too — Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes married here in 2006, which locals will mention to you within about five minutes of any conversation, with an expression that suggests they’re still not entirely sure how to feel about it. I preferred the older story: this was one of the last strongholds to resist Cesare Borgia’s campaign to consolidate papal territory in the early 1500s, and you can still feel that defensive logic in the way the walls are laid out along the ridge.

The Lake Itself

Lake Bracciano is volcanic in origin, formed in a caldera roughly 600,000 years ago, and it’s one of the cleanest lakes in the Lazio region — clean enough that it supplies drinking water to parts of Rome, which is why motorboats are restricted and the shoreline has stayed relatively undeveloped compared to somewhere like Bolsena. I rented a bike in town and rode a stretch of the perimeter road toward Trevignano Romano, stopping at a lakeside spot for a plate of coregone, the local whitefish, grilled simply with lemon. The water was that particular deep, cold blue that volcanic lakes seem to specialize in, ringed by wooded hills with barely another tourist in sight on a Tuesday afternoon in shoulder season. Sailing and windsurfing clubs operate from the shore, and swimming from the small public beaches is popular with Romans escaping the city heat in summer, though it never feels crowded the way the coast does.

When to go: Any weekend from April through October works, but aim for a weekday if you can — Bracciano is a favorite Roman escape and the castle and lakefront restaurants fill up fast on Saturdays and Sundays.