There is a village in the hills of the Teverina where you stroll through the pages of a picture book. It is Sant'Angelo di Roccalvecce, a hamlet of Viterbo that everyone now calls the Fairy Tale Village: Alice, Cinderella, the Ugly Duckling and dozens of other characters live on the façades of its houses, painted on murals that turned a dying village into one of the most surprising places in Tuscia. And it is still little known: the right time to go is now.

The story: a village saved by fairy tales

At the end of 2016 Sant'Angelo was a village like many in inland Italy: the young gone, the houses empty. A group of residents led by Gianluca Chiovelli founded the cultural association ACAS with an idea as simple as it was visionary: hand the village walls over to street art and fairy tales. The first mural — the Alice in Wonderland that is still the most photographed today — was unveiled on 27 November 2017: the painted clock reads 11:27 precisely in memory of that date. The project never stopped: today there are more than fifty works, between murals and installations, and the village has come back to life.

What you will see

You explore on foot, following the signs, through alleys and stairways: every corner hides a fairy tale. There are the classics of Andersen — the Steadfast Tin Soldier, the Ugly Duckling, the Little Match Girl — and those of the Brothers Grimm, from Cinderella to Hansel and Gretel to the Town Musicians of Bremen. The whole is an open-air museum, free and always open, where children run from one character to the next and adults rediscover the stories they grew up with.

Practical tips

Park at the entrance to the village: there is a free car park about 800 metres from the historic centre, and with a little luck a few spaces right by the first murals. Wear comfortable shoes: the village is all climbs and stairways. Allow a good hour for the full loop — more if you photograph everything, and it is impossible not to.

Useful information — verified July 2026

  • Where: Sant'Angelo di Roccalvecce, a hamlet of Viterbo, about 30 km from the city — around 25 minutes from Villa Vacanze Valentina via Attigliano/Civitella d'Agliano.
  • Cost: nothing — it is an open-air village, always open to visitors.
  • Duration: a good hour for the mural loop.
  • Parking: free at the village entrance (~800 m from the centre), or in the central car park by the first murals.
  • The works: over 50 murals and installations; the first (Alice) dates from 27 November 2017.

Pair it with: the ghost village

A few minutes from Sant'Angelo lies Celleno, the ghost village: two neighbouring villages and two opposite fates — one abandoned and frozen in time, the other saved by colour. Seen in the same afternoon, they tell the story of Tuscia better than any guidebook.

Where to stay for the Fairy Tale Village

Villa Vacanze Valentina is in Bassano in Teverina, about 25 minutes from Sant'Angelo: the perfect base to combine fairy tales, ghost villages and — on your return — the pool in the silence of the countryside, all in a single day. Discover the holiday home with pool or write to us on WhatsApp.

Photo: Albarubescens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.