It is located in the immediate vicinity of Lake Vico, a volcanic crater in a natural park reserve - "little Switzerland" - covered with hazel groves.

The town presents a dual appearance. On the one side there are the two ancient quarters of Sopra (upper) and Sotto (lower), marked by the medieval bell tower of Providence, while the other side encompasses the Farnese city ending with the monumental gate of Porta Romana, attributed to Vignola. Ronciglione is famous throughout the region for its traditional Carnevale - or Mardi Gras - with the original "empty" race of riderless horses.

In the medieval district, with its charming streets and squares, we can admire the church of Provvidenza (dating to the beginning of the eleventh century, with fragments of fifteenth-century frescoes) and the elegant bell tower dating to the twelfththirteenth century. The tower has three stories with double lancet windows. Here we can also see the ruins of the church of Sant'Andrea, whose bell tower dates to the fifteenth century.

The meeting places of the "new" city are Piazza della Nave and Piazza del Comune, overlooked by the sixteenth-century Palazzo Comunale and the cathedral, near the elegant Vignola-style fountain decorated with unicorns and lilies symbolising the Farnese family. Set further back to the right of the cathedral are the ruins of the Rovere castle (badly neglected), with four cylindrical towers.

The cathedral reflects appreciable Baroque forms thanks to the work of Rainaldi. Inside, there is an eighteenth-century tavola by Trevisani depicting Our Lady of the Assumption, a late-Gothic triptych by Viterbo artist Gabriele di Francesco (Our Saviour between the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist), a Madonna with Child and the Saints (the tavola has been attributed to the school of Giulio Romano) and an eighteenth-century altarpiece by Ghezzi (Our Lady of the Rosary).

In the southern part of town is the church of Santa Maria della Pace, restructured at the end of the sixteenth century. The lovely Baroque altar, with a fresco of the Virgin Mary, has an eighteenth-century altarpiece next to it by Sebastiano Conca (Madonna with St. Francis de Sales), considered the finest picture of that period in the Viterbo area. A few kilometres away, in the countryside along the road to Rome we can glimpse the little Romanesque church of Sant'Eusebio, which dates to the seventh century. The interior (a nave and two aisles, with column topped by archaic capitals) has several frescoes, including The Last Supper (probably dating to the twelfth century), the Saviour Benedictory with the Evangelists (thirteenth century) and a fifteenth-century Madonna with Child between St. Eusebius and St. Stephen.