What is Sutri known for?

Roman elliptical arena carved out of the tuff in the first century BC, one of the most unusual surviving amphitheaters in Italy. Dozens of rock-cut chamber tombs in the tuff cliffs along the Via Cassia, in continuous use from the seventh century BC. Long-standing stage on the pilgrim road to Rome, where Sigeric in 990 recorded Sutri as Mansio XXV on his return journey.

Sutri is a comune in the province of Viterbo, Lazio region of Italy, about 52 kilometers from Roma.

Lazio · Viterbo

Sutri

An Etruscan and Roman town on a tuff spur, with a rock-cut amphitheater carved straight from the volcanic stone of the Cimini.

52 km / 32 mi

Nearest hub (Roma)

6,663

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Sutri sitson a narrow tuff spur, fifty kilometers north of Rome on the old Via Cassia. The Etruscans held it before the Romans took it in the fourth century BC; it was one of the colonies that refused further military contributions to Rome during the Second Punic War in 209 BC. Its signature monument is the anfiteatro romano, an elliptical arena measuring about forty-nine by forty meters, hewn directly out of the tuff rock rather than built on it, a method almost unique in the Roman world. The Mithraeum below the Chiesa della Madonna del Parto is a Roman temple to Mithras carved into the same stone and converted to a Marian sanctuary in the medieval period. On the high tuff above sits Villa Savorelli, an eighteenth-century residence with formal gardens that overlook the archaeological park. Local tradition ties the town's beans to Charlemagne, who passed through and was supposedly relieved of an attack of gout by Sutri's variety.

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Known for

Anfiteatro Romano
Elliptical amphitheater about forty-nine by forty meters, carved directly out of the tuff rock rather than built on it.
Mithraeum / Madonna del Parto
Roman temple to Mithras hewn into the tuff and reused as a Marian sanctuary, accessed through the medieval rock-cut church.
Necropoli rupestre
Etruscan necropolis with dozens of rock-cut chamber tombs in the cliff face along the Via Cassia.
Villa Savorelli
Eighteenth-century villa on the high tuff above town, with formal Italian garden, holm-oak walks and panoramic terraces.
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Romanesque cathedral with cosmatesque pavement and a thirteenth-century crypt, on the edge of the centro storico.
Parco Regionale Antichissima Città di Sutri
Regional park of seven hectares uniting the amphitheater, necropolis, Mithraeum and Villa Savorelli grounds.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the best months in the tuff country, when the amphitheater grass is green and the gardens of Villa Savorelli are open. July and August push afternoons into the mid-thirties; the rock-cut Mithraeum and tomb chambers stay cool and become the part of the visit that doesn't need to be timed. November through March is quiet. Cassia traffic drops, the hazelnut groves of the surrounding Cimini are bare, and the archaeological park keeps a reduced winter schedule. Clear winter mornings give the cleanest light on the tuff face.