Lazio · Viterbo
Montefiascone
A 590-meter hill town on the southeastern rim of Lake Bolsena, the source of Est! Est!! Est!!! and a Via Francigena stop.
Known for
EST! EST!! EST!!!
DOC white wine since 1966, named for the twelfth-century legend of a German bishop's prelate marking inn doors with the word Est.
ROCCA DEI PAPI
Papal summer fortress on the highest hill of the Volsini, with a tower view across all of Lake Bolsena.
LAGO DI BOLSENA
Largest volcanic lake in Europe at 114 square kilometers, occupying the crater two hundred meters below the town.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: Margherita di Antiochia, 20 July
Why come
Montefiascone stands at 590 meters on the highest hill of the Volsini range, on the southeastern rim of the Lake Bolsena crater, about a hundred kilometers north of Rome. The Rocca dei Papi at the top was a papal summer residence from the thirteenth century; from its tower you see the full circle of Lake Bolsena below, the largest volcanic lake in Europe. Down the hill, the Basilica di San Flaviano is one of the strangest churches in Lazio: two superimposed Romanesque-Gothic naves, the lower one twelfth century, the upper fourteenth, with fourteenth-century frescoes still on the walls.
The town gave its name to Est! Est!! Est!!!
di Montefiascone DOC, the white wine whose legend has a twelfth-century German bishop's prelate marking inn doors with the word Est wherever the wine was good, and writing it three times here. Montefiascone is also a recognized stop on the Via Francigena between Bolsena and Viterbo.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Montefiascone’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Rocca dei Papi
Medieval papal summer residence on the highest point of town, with a panoramic tower over Lake Bolsena.
Basilica di San Flaviano
Romanesque-Gothic double-nave church just outside the walls, twelfth and fourteenth centuries, with original frescoes and the tomb of the German bishop Johannes Defuk.
Cattedrale di Santa Margherita
Renaissance cathedral with a 27-meter octagonal dome, the third largest in Italy by base diameter, completed in the late sixteenth century.
Belvedere su Lago di Bolsena
Northern viewpoint over the 114-square-kilometer crater lake, the largest volcanic lake in Europe.
Via Francigena stage
Recognized pilgrim stop on the route from Canterbury to Rome, between Bolsena and Viterbo, with a credentialed pilgrim hostel.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 12,955
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Rome, 2 h 19 min drive
- Regional capital Roma, 1 h 50 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 590 m
- Population: 12,955
- Surface area: 104.93 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Montefiascone
Bagnoregio
Province: Viterbo
The Etruscan-founded hill town in Tuscia whose frazione Civita di Bagnoregio sits on an eroding tuff plateau, reachable only by footbridge.
Capodimonte
Province: Viterbo
The lakefront Farnese stronghold on Lago di Bolsena — a small Tuscia borgo on a peninsula jutting into Europe's largest volcanic crater lake, with Antonio da Sangallo's octagonal Rocca Farnese, an extra-virgin olive oil tradition (Città dell'Olio), and views across the water to the inhabited Isola Bisentina.
Bolsena
Province: Viterbo
A medieval town at 350 meters on the eastern shore of Europe's largest volcanic lake, where a Bohemian priest reported a Eucharistic miracle in 1263.
Viterbo
Province: Viterbo
The medieval capital of the Tuscia, papal seat for five popes between 1257 and 1281 and home to the longest conclave in Church history.
Vitorchiano
Province: Viterbo
A peperino borgo built on a single volcanic boulder near Viterbo, and the only place outside Easter Island with a true Moai.
👣 Via Francigena
More Via Francigena towns in Lazio
Acquapendente
Province: Viterbo
The northernmost town in Lazio on the Via Francigena, at 420 meters above the Paglia, named in 964 for its waterfalls.
Capranica
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A medieval hill town on the old Via Cassia, taken by the Anguillara family in 1305 and remembered as the place Petrarch stayed in 1337.
Castel Gandolfo
Province: Roma
A papal town on the rim of Lake Albano's volcanic crater, summer residence of the popes since 1626 in the Castelli Romani.
Fondi
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The plain town between the Ausoni and Aurunci mountains where the Caetani built a castle in the middle of farmland instead of on a hill.
Minturno
Province: Latina
A coastal comune at the mouth of the Garigliano, built on the Roman colony of Minturnae, five-time Bandiera Blu through Scauri and Marina.