The town is set on the Volsini hillsides in upper Tuscia, in a charming position on Lake Bolsena. In the historic centre, we can admire Palazzo Farnese and the church of the Maddalena. The palace tes­tifies to the splendour that the city enjoyed during the first half of the sixteenth centu­ry. The building was constructed around 1515 for the wedding of Pier Luigi Farnese, and Girolama argini. The plans were drawn up by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who was commissioned by Cardinal Alexander, who would become Pope Paul III. In the vast representation halls, you can see the fireplaces in peperino stone and the lovely wooden ceilings with traces of pictorial decorations. The windows afford a marvel­lous view of Lake Bolsena. Inside, there is a small museum with ceramics dating to the fifteenth-sixteenth century, volumes from the historic archives of the commune dat­ing from 1500 to 1800, and the first section on Renaissance customs.

The church of the Maddalena, with its Baroque facade and eighteenth-century bell tower, has a Renaissance baptismal font made of marble and a "detached" six­teenth-century fresco depicting the Ma­donna with Child. A room set up as a small museum of sacred art unfolds the lovely surprise of a fresco cycle done by the Mannerist school depicting the Passion of Christ, fifteen tavolas from the sixteenth century depicting the Mysteries of the Rosary and a collection of liturgical para­ments, sacred furnishings, candelabras and votive offerings.

The “Lunch of Purgatori”

On Ash Wednesday, the industrial buil­ding of the Gradoli winery opens its doors to welcome about 2000 "penitents" who start Lent with a meatless meal. The menu has been the same for centuries - dating un­doubtedly to the sixteenth century, as atte­sted to by a document that mentions the Brotherhood of suffrage (today Confra­ternity of Purgatory), the driving force be­hind this unique gastronomic idea. For one day, its members become cooks and waiters, and without the help of any women, they prepare the "Lunch of Purgatory". The meal starts with white beans dressed in oil, followed by rice in tench broth with pike innards, pike stew, fried hake, stockfish with garlic, oil and parsley, ravioli stuffed with ricotta, and wine, with a final toast with local Aleatico. The out-of-pocket expenses are subsidised by local residents who, during a public auction, bid far the items donated by the "brothers" of the confraternity.