The Immaculate Conception long weekend, 5-8 December 2026, an hour from Rome: Viterbo's Christmas Village, Soriano, Marmore, Orvieto, hot springs.
This year 8 December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, falls on a Tuesday. Take Monday the 7th off and the holiday becomes a long weekend: Saturday 5 to Tuesday 8 December, four days. It is the first break of the winter, and Rome feels it: the city empties, some head for the mountains, some head north. We suggest Tuscia, an hour from Rome, with the Orte exit of the A1 motorway fifteen minutes from the villa.
You stay with us, in Bassano in Teverina, in a family home that stays open all winter: two apartments in the villa for families, one of them with a fireplace, and the Lovers' Cottage, built of wood, for two. Each day of the plan below starts from there.
The days rest on things that are there all year round: villages, gardens, palaces, hot water. This year, though, the long weekend comes with Christmas already under way: in Viterbo the Christmas Village is open on all four days of the long weekend, Orvieto's «A Natale regalati Orvieto» Christmas programme runs from 27 November, and on Tuesday 8 Soriano nel Cimino holds «Natale al Castello», Christmas at the castle. You will find each of them on the day it fits.
Saturday 5: the Monsters of Bomarzo, the keys, hot water at night
Leave Rome late in the morning, no rush: it is an hour's drive. Start with the place closest to the house: the Park of the Monsters in Bomarzo, ten minutes from the villa. The Sacred Grove is open every day of the year (it closes only on Christmas Day) and in winter it closes at 5pm, with last entry an hour earlier: be there by three. With leaves on the ground and a low sun, the sculptures in the woods look even stranger. Our guide to the Park of the Monsters tells you what to look for. Then ten minutes and you are home: check-in at the villa is from 3pm, so there is no hurry.
For the evening there are two options, both twenty-five minutes away. If you are a couple: the Saturday night swim at the Terme dei Papi in Viterbo. The monumental pool stays open until one in the morning, the water is hot and steam rises into the cold air; then back to the Cottage, heated, with its own garden outside and the quiet of the countryside. Times and conditions are in our guide to the Terme dei Papi: check the official website before you go. If you have children: the wooden stalls of the Christmas market in Via Marconi, in Viterbo, which opens on Saturday 5 and on Saturdays stays open until 9pm.
Sunday 6: Caprarola, or the waters of Marmore
Sunday 6 December is the first Sunday of the month. Usually, under the Italian Ministry of Culture's «Domenica al museo» scheme, admission to state museums and sites is free that day: the list of participating sites and any exceptions can be checked on the Ministry's website in the days before.
The place for this Sunday is Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, about thirty-five minutes away: the pentagonal plan, the round courtyard, the spiral staircase, the frescoed rooms. It is a state museum and closed on Mondays, so Sunday is its day. Arrive early, because free entry brings crowds. Everything you need is in our guide to Palazzo Farnese. In the afternoon, if the weather holds, drive up to Lake Vico, a few minutes from Caprarola, among the woods of its nature reserve: in winter it is quiet.
If your children have little patience for museums, swap the day for the Marmore Falls, about fifty minutes away. On December weekdays the water normally stays in the channels of the power station; for the long weekend, though, the official 2026 calendar has the falls running on all four days, 5 to 8 December, from 12 to 1pm and from 2 to 3pm, with the park open from 10am. The website warns that times can change: have a look the evening before. Trails and viewpoints are in our guide to the Marmore Falls.
Home early in the evening. If you have the apartment with the fireplace, this is the night to light it: it is a real fireplace, the firewood is included, and the fully equipped kitchen does the rest.
Monday 7: Civita di Bagnoregio and Christmas in Orvieto
The Monday is the day of the two clifftop towns. In the morning, Civita di Bagnoregio, forty-five minutes away. In winter you may get the scene people travel far for: fog fills the valley of clay badlands and the village floats above it. You can't book it; it happens or it doesn't. Leave early and see. Tickets, parking and the rest are in our guide to Civita di Bagnoregio.
After lunch, Orvieto, about fifty minutes from the villa: the Cathedral, St Patrick's Well, which in December opens every day, and the underground city. From 27 November the town has its own Christmas, «A Natale regalati Orvieto»: the council has announced the tree of light inside St Patrick's Well, the big tree in Piazza Duomo, the skating rink and the market between Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza Duomo. In early November the council had not yet published the day-by-day programme: check it before you go. The step-by-step itinerary is in our guide to Orvieto.
Stay until the lights come on. Then fifty minutes on the road and you are home for the last evening.
Tuesday 8: Soriano or Viterbo, then the drive home
On the last day the keys are handed back in the morning: by 10am in the apartments, by 11am in the Cottage. The rest of the day is spent with your bags in the car, and there are two options, both less than half an hour from the villa.
The first is Soriano nel Cimino, about twenty minutes away. For the Immaculate Conception the local Pro Loco association opens «Natale al Castello» in the grounds outside the Orsini Castle: the market from 10am, food stalls with roast chestnuts and mulled wine from noon and, from 3pm, a party for children, with workshops, wooden games, shows and letters to Father Christmas. Admission is free. It is the choice for families.
The second is Viterbo. In the morning, the medieval quarter of San Pellegrino and the square of the Palace of the Popes, with its loggia: our guide to Viterbo will keep you on track. The Viterbo Christmas Village fills the streets of the quarter, and in the town centre, in Via Marconi, there are the market stalls (times and tickets below): expect more people than usual. In winter the interiors of the Colle del Duomo are usually closed on Tuesdays: if you want to go in, check the public-holiday opening hours first. Then, before leaving, one last soak in the open-air pools of Bullicame or Piscine Carletti, free and generally open all year, except when the council closes them for cleaning or works: bathrobe, flip-flops and ten minutes in the steam. How they work is explained in our article on the free hot springs near Rome.
A tip about the Terme dei Papi: the pool is usually closed on Tuesdays for maintenance, but the rule changes on public holidays. If you want to go back on the 8th, check their calendar first.
For the return, you join the A1 at Orte, fifteen minutes from the villa, and Rome is an hour away. Holiday traffic usually builds up on the afternoon of the last day: if you can, leave right after lunch or after dinner.
The Village ticket, the markets, the nativity scenes
Viterbo's Christmas Village is open on Saturday 5, Sunday 6, Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 December, from 11am to 7pm, with the ticket office opening at 10:45. The historic centre is always free; you pay for the attractions, which are all indoors, in historic buildings. One useful detail for a long weekend: the ticket is not tied to a day. The date you pick when buying online is only indicative, each attraction can be visited once, and the ones you miss on Saturday you can see on Tuesday.
The Christmas market in Via Marconi, with its wooden stalls, opens on 5 December and runs until 6 January: on weekdays from 3 to 8pm, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 11am to 9pm. In Soriano nel Cimino, «Natale al Castello» starts on 8 December and comes back on the next two weekends and on 6 January. In Orvieto, «A Natale regalati Orvieto» runs from 27 November to 10 January.
The best-known nativity scenes come after the long weekend. In Civita di Bagnoregio a living nativity is usually staged in the village after Christmas: in 2025 it ran on 26 and 28 December and 1, 4, 5 and 6 January. In Orvieto the nativity inside the Pozzo della Cava is open from 23 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, 10am to 8pm. For the other villages, dates usually appear in November and December on the websites of the local councils and Pro Loco associations: check there before planning around an event.
If it rains
In December it can. The plan barely changes: Palazzo Farnese, Orvieto Cathedral and the Village attractions are indoors, the hot springs are better in cold air, and, if you have the apartment with the fireplace, an afternoon by the fire is not a fallback. More ideas for the season are in our guide to what to do in Tuscia in winter, and if you only have two days, see our winter weekend near Rome.
Where to stay for the long weekend
Villa Vacanze Valentina is in Bassano in Teverina, in the province of Viterbo, an hour from Rome, and it is open in winter too. There are three places to stay, and each suits a different kind of long weekend.
For a family there is an apartment in the villa, for up to four guests, with a fully equipped kitchen and a dishwasher. There are two apartments, side by side in the same building: two families spending the long weekend together, up to eight people, stay close and each has a home of its own. A cot and a high chair are available: ask for them before you arrive.
The fireplace is in only one of the two apartments. It is real, it works, and the firewood is included: if you want it, ask us when you book and we will give you that apartment, if it is free.
For two there is the Lovers' Cottage: built of wood, detached from the villa, with its own bathroom inside and a garden all to itself. It is the choice for those who come for the night-time hot springs and the quiet.
Everything is heated with radiators; the pool is closed in winter, and you come for everything else. Check-in is from 3pm, check-out by 10am in the apartments and by 11am in the Cottage. The location makes the plan: Bomarzo ten minutes away, Soriano twenty, Viterbo twenty-five, Caprarola thirty-five, Civita forty-five, Orvieto and Marmore about fifty. You will find all the houses on our holiday home in Viterbo page, and winter around here in Winter in Tuscia.
Opening times re-checked on 7 November 2026 on the official websites (Christmas Village, Pro Loco of Soriano, Marmore Falls, Orvieto council, Sacred Grove, Terme dei Papi): things can change in December, and on public holidays it is always worth checking before you set off.
