Bracciano, Italy

Welcome to the Hilltop Towns

Stepping into the winding streets of Bracciano is stepping into the heart of Italy. This is a town of aged buildings, narrow cobbled lanes, copper street lanterns. It is a town of small traders, of street cafes, and tiny bars. It is a town where people walk on the roadways and the cars are secondary. This is a town where the pace of the day is dictated by the rising and the setting of the sun, and the mood of the night is set by the moonlight.

A Quiet Backstreet Courtyard in Bracciano

The town is dominated by a towering medieval castle at the top of a hill surrounded by layer upon layer of feudal housing cascading down this hillside. This is the housing where the servants and serfs once lived in centuries gone by.  From the outside these houses are still much as they were when built all those centuries ago. Now however,  you will find modern comfortable homes folded within and hidden by those thick stone walls . This medieval quarter of twisting turning lanes, and homes full of character has become a much sought after place to live now, even though not so long ago it was the newer part of Bracciano just across the valley which locals aspired to belong to.

Bracciano's Castle

Bracciano is not known as a tourist town even though it is in many ways a picture-perfect village. Situated only 40 minutes by train from Rome it is essentially a commuter town for many of the locals. However on its hilltop overlooking a lake with views stretching for many miles out across the Italian countryside it is far from the humdrum suburban dreariness of a typical commuter town.
By day a handful of tourists do come to Bracciano. A tour bus pulls into the courtyard below the castle  from time to time. By night the narrow streets of Bracciano pulse with life as folk come out to dine and to chat. Later the streets fill with those out enjoying the Passeggiata  - that most Italian of rituals -  as they pass  by on their endless evening stroll through the chosen streets and paths of the town. Late into the night this street life continues on. Just a typical balmy Italian Tuesday night.

A warm summer evening at a sidewalk cafe

Bracciano is on a main train route into Rome and is a great base for exploration.


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