Two October weekends, a wood inside a village and a Renaissance palace a few steps away. In Caprarola, in the Cimini Hills, the Cioccofest is back, bringing together the Chocolate Festival and the Chestnut Festival: Saturday 10 and Sunday 11, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October 2026, in the Parco delle Scuderie of Palazzo Farnese. If you are looking for a weekend outside Rome with the children, or an autumn day for two in Tuscia, this is one to mark: Caprarola is in the province of Viterbo, about an hour from the capital.

Chocolate and chestnuts, over four days

The Municipality of Caprarola has announced it: chocolate takes centre stage, in the craft work of the makers who come to exhibit. Alongside it, the best food of Tuscia and the flavours of autumn in the Cimini Hills, chestnuts first of all. There is plenty of room for food: local dishes and ideas built around seasonal produce.

2026 also brings a handover. This year the Chestnut Festival is run by the Class of 1987 — the villagers born that year — who take up the legacy of the classes before them and begin their turn at the town's traditional festivals.

A wood inside the village

The setting alone is worth the trip. The Parco delle Scuderie covers about two hectares of centuries-old trees, a few steps from the old centre and from Palazzo Farnese: the municipality calls it "a real wood woven into the fabric of the village". You wander between the stalls under the branches, as the first leaves turn. In the Cimini Hills in mid-October, afternoons are mild and evenings cool down quickly.

With children

The announced programme includes activities for children and families, games, animals, music and shows, spread across the four days. The detailed schedule, with times and shows day by day, is published by the municipality on the social channels @cioccofestcaprarola and @comunedicaprarola: at the end of September it was not out yet, so check it before you set off.

If you are planning a few days with little ones, there are more ideas in our guide to Tuscia with children.

While you are there: Palazzo Farnese

Driving up to Caprarola without stepping into Palazzo Farnese would be a shame. It is Vignola's masterpiece: a stone pentagon with a round courtyard at its heart, the Scala Regia spiralling around its columns, and the Map Room showing the world as it was known in the sixteenth century.

  • Opening times checked in September 2026: Tuesday to Sunday, 8:30–19:30, last entry 18:45. Closed on Mondays.
  • The palace gardens keep their own hours and close earlier: in October they close at 6pm, last entry 5pm.
  • All four Cioccofest days fall on a Saturday or Sunday, when the palace is open. Special hours and closures are announced by the Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Lazio: check there before you go.

A plan that works: the palace in the morning, with good light and fewer people, then the afternoon in the park among chocolate and chestnuts. Room by room, with tickets, it is all in our guide to Palazzo Farnese.

The Cimini Hills in autumn

Around here, October is a season of its own. On the same weekends there is the Chestnut Festival of Soriano nel Cimino, until Sunday 18: it is in our guide to the festival. In Canepina and Vallerano, from 10 October, the cellars carved into the tuff open for the chestnut festivals, and on Sunday 18 Canepina runs its Donkey Palio.

If you prefer quiet, there are the woods: the Monte Cimino beech forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the trails around Lake Vico. For what to take home and what to cook this season, read our piece on truffles and chestnuts in Tuscia. All the festivals of the province are gathered on the Events and festivals in Tuscia page.

Planning your day

  • Pick your weekend. The first, 10-11 October, pairs with Soriano and the opening of Canepina and Vallerano. The second, 17-18, with the Donkey Palio and the last weekend of the Soriano festival.
  • Check the programme on the Cioccofest and municipality social channels: times and shows are published there.
  • Comfortable shoes. The park is a wood, and the centre of Caprarola climbs towards the palace.
  • A jacket in the car. At sunset in the Cimini Hills, the temperature drops.

Where to stay

Villa Vacanze Valentina is in Bassano in Teverina, in the province of Viterbo: Caprarola is about 35 minutes away, Soriano 20, Canepina and Vallerano 25, Rome an hour and the Orte exit of the A1 motorway 15. Two apartments in the villa, each for up to four guests, and the Lovers' Cottage for two, with its own garden.

In autumn the house is lived indoors: heating, a dishwasher in the apartments and, in one of the two, an open fireplace with firewood included. You come back from a day between palace and woods, light the fire, and the quiet of the countryside does the rest. Everything is on our holiday home near Viterbo page.

Dates and venue come from the official page of the Municipality of Caprarola (1 September 2026); the programme with times had not been published by the end of September and should be checked on the Cioccofest social channels before you set off.