It is named after the lake it overlooks, north of Viterbo near the Umbrian border. It is universally renowned for the miracle of Corpus Christi, in connection with the miracle of the Eucharist that occurred in 1263. While a Bohemian priest was celebrating Mass at the tomb of St. Christina, he saw the blood of Christ flow from the consecrated host.

Its fortunate position on the hillsides sloping down from the Volsini mountains has always fostered a series of human settlements, as documented by the remains of primitive pile-dwellings found at the bottom of the lake.

Its tourism-related fame is also due to the nearby state road of Via Cassia, as well as the fact that for centuries it was used a strategic stopping point for pilgrims on their way to Rome. According to some scholars, its 'ancestor' Vélzna - the last of the twelve cities of the Etruscan federation to surrender to the Roman invasion (265 BC) - was located on the cliff of nearby Orvieto (about thirty km to the northwest). Instead, for others the pagus was located near the modern-day town. During the Roman era, the city was known as Volsinii and it was given the title of municipium. It maintained its prestige during the early years of Christianity, as documented by the vast catacombs of St. Christina, the mar­tyr to whom the collegiate church is dedi­cated. Traces of the medieval era can be found in the castle of Monaldeschi della Cervara that dominates the historic cen­tre. The lakeside area of Bolsena offers comfortable accommodation facilities that are frequented by Italian and other Eu­ropean clients in the summer as well as the other seasons. The most representative monument is the collegiate church of Santa Christina, built in the Romanesque style. Its current appearance can be attrib­uted mainly to work done on it during the fifteenth century during the period of Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici. The monu­ment is the outcome of a series of structur­al interventions, some of which probably date to the pagan era. The oldest part is composed of the original oratory, created from the cut of the catacomb galleries sur­rounding the sepulchre of Santa Christina. This is a tufaceous grotto where the mira­cle of Corpus Christi took place. Sub­sequently, the collegiate church was built in the eleventh-twelfth century, followed by the Chapel of the Miracle at the end of the seventeenth century (the facade was re­done in the nineteenth century). The inte­rior of the middle church (collegiate church), with a nave and two aisles that are separated by roughly-finished bombé columns, has maintained the general lay­out of the original Romanesque structure: a square apse with a cross-vault and trussed ceiling. There is a lovely fifteenth-century polyptych attributed to Sano di Pietro and Benvenuto di Giovanni depicting the Madonna enthroned with child between St. George, St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Christina. In the cyma: Christ Benedictory and the Annunciation. In the predella: on the side, St. George and the dragon, St. George converts the princess' father, St. George blesses the people of Silene, Decapitation of St. George; in the centre: Pietà with Mary and John. The Chapel of the Rosary, with Gothic cross-vaults and fifteenth-century frescoes, is off the right aisle. In the Chapel of St. Lucia, at the end of the right aisle, there are frescoes by the Umbrian-Sienese school that probably date to the second half of the fifteenth century, with Nativity scenes. A white-marble Roma­nesque portal decorated in bas relief leads to the Baroque Chapel of the Miracle.

Located under a lovely eighteenth-century altarpiece by Trevisani on the main altar are three sacred stones with stains on them that, according to tradition, are the blood of the Eucharistic miracle. A fourth stone is displayed in a magnificent reliquary by Orvieto artist Ravelli. Over the smaller al­tars we can admire two eighteenth-century canvases, one depicting St. John the Evangelist with the Trinity and the other the Madonna del Carmine with the souls of Purgatory, St. George and St. Christina. From here, we can move on to the Grotto of St. Christina, created tram the catacomb galleries surround the saint's sepulchre. On the right is the Chapel of St. Michael, with a lovely ceramic altarpiece. In the middle is the Altar of the Miracle, encircled by a sixteenth-century balustrade with a ninth-­century ciborium sustained by four Corinthian columns; the frontal is com­posed of basaltic stone with the footprints of the Christian heroine who, according to tradition, held the martyr's body when it was thrown into the lake. On the wall to the left of the altar (decorated with what re­mains of the thirteenth-century frescoes), there is an archway that leads to the Saint's sepulchre, with a terracotta statue attributed to Buglioni set on it, and to the Christian catacombs. The middle ambula­tory has numerous niches with inscriptions and traces of paintings.

Another important monument is the castle of Monaldeschi della Cervara, a square complex with corner towers that overlooks the town. The building dates to the thirteenth-fourteenth century. It was devastated by the local population in 1815 to prevent it from falling into the hands of Lucien Bonaparte, and was subsequently constructed as we see it today. The Territorial Museum of Lake Bolsena is located inside the castle. It covers three floors plus an exterior courtyard with the lapidarium. The ground floor, on which the entrance is located, contains the section on rock formation and volcanic activity in the area, the section on ancient history (Copper Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age) and the one on the Etruscan period of the area around the lake. This floor ends with the oldest evidence of the foundation of the Roman city of Volsinii. The upper floor is dedicated to a display of the wealth of archaeological documentation uncovered by the excavations of the Roman city of Volsinii. Some of the materials on exhibit include the House of Paintings and the Dionysian throne known as the Throne of the Panthers, an excellent work dating to the beginning of the second century BC.

The lower floor represents a historic excursion to medieval Bolsena, with particular reference to the Monaldeschi castle. The museum incorporates its ancient defensive walls and the street that led to the town below, marked off by showcases displaying the medieval ceramics discovered in the butto (drainage well) of the main tower. This section ends with the exhibit dedicated to the lake and fishing.

Below the castle is the elegant Renaissance building of Palazzo del Drago, which is interesting because of the Tuscan traits of its architecture, as well as the city of frescoes documenting the presence in Viterbo of a Roman Mannerist phase prior to the Zuccari brothers. In the vault in the entrance hall, there are outstanding grotesqueries against a black-and-white background and frames with stories about Alexander, while the walls are covered with large monochrome landscapes. The Banquet of the Gods is portrayed on the vault of the adjacent room, which has scenes and figures done on the walls in grisaille. Located on the piano nobile is the Hall of Judgement, which features a coffered ceil­ing and monochrome frescoes that imitate the work of Pierin del Vaga and Pellegrino Tibaldi. In the main square, we can admire the church of San Francesco (open only far religious functions). It dates to the thirteenth century, as evinced by the lovely Gothic portal.

Noteworthy archaeological finding include the ruins of the ancient city walls, made of tuff blocks marked with Etruscan letters, as well as funerary monuments dating to the first century AD, visible at the beginning of the road to Orvieto. In the same direction (in Poggio Moscini), you can admire the ruins of the Roman city.­

Lake Bolsena

This crater in the Volsini mountains is filled with relatively clear water (surface area 114 square km, perimeter 63 km, maximum depth 146 m).

As far as its size is concerned, it is the fifth largest lake in Italy and is the largest lake of volcanic origin in Europe. The towns of Bolsena, Marta and Capodimonte overlook the lake. There are two islands in the middle of the lake, Bisentina and Martana. The for­mer (surface area 17 hectares) has a unique natural habitat dotted with elegant artistic element: sixteenth-century aedicules from the Farnese period and the church of SS. Giacomo e Cristoforo with the annexed Franciscan con­vent, currently transformed into guest rooms. The island, which is privately owned, can be visited during the summer with small boats and motorboats that leave from the small ports of Bolsena and Capodimonte ("Alto Lazio" boat services of Bolsena and "La Bussola" boat services of Capodimonte).

Martana island (10 hectares), which is also privately owned, is remembered because of the tragic death of Amalasunta, the queen of the Ostrogoths who, as legend would have it, was killed on this secluded site by her hu sband Theodatus.

A scenic route - not to be missed for thebeauty of the countryside and the magnificent views of the lake - connects the town of San Lorenzo Nuovo, Grotte di Castro, Gradoli, Valentano, Capodimonte, Marta and Montefiascone.

Launched stones

About a kilometre from the city, along the Via Cassia leading to Montefiascone, a very rare geological formation can be seen. It is composed of prisms driven into the rock, a reminder of some of the volcanic activity in the area. It was formed by a lava stream whose lower part took longer to cool, thus giving it an unusual appearance. The local population refers to the formation as “launched stones”.

The “Mysteries of St. Christina”

This takes pIace on the evening of 23 July and the morning of the next day. Through about a dozen plastic "pictures" on stages set in the historic centre, they com­memorate the trials of the young Christina during the Christian persecution, from which she emerged unharmed until she died under the arrows of killers led by her fa­ther. The theatre representations are all that remains of a popular cult that was more complex in the past. The scenes are brought to life by silent and motionless fi­gures (over a hundred): St. Christina floating on the stone in the lake, torture by the wheel, imprisonment, torture by the furnace, the demons, flagellation, the destruction of idols, the asps, death by arrows, deposition in the sepulchre. The heroine of Bolsena, who lived during the third century, is venerated in many italian places, as well as in France and Germany. Her cult began in the fourth century, but there were no official accounts of her martyrdom - which was legendary - until the ninth century.