The Castelli Romani, the hill towns of the Alban Hills southeast of Rome, are where Romans themselves go to exhale: Frascati's wine terraces, Nemi's strawberries and volcanic lake, Castel Gandolfo's papal palace and Grottaferrata's Byzantine abbey.
Last updated August 23, 2026
In a nutshell: The Castelli Romani are the hill towns of the Alban Hills southeast of Rome - Frascati's white wine and Ville Tuscolane, Nemi's strawberries and volcanic lake, Castel Gandolfo's papal palace and Grottaferrata's Byzantine abbey, all reachable in under an hour. They pair well with Ostia Antica and Tivoli; the day trips overview has the full picture.
The Castelli Romani ('Roman castles') are the group of hilltop towns dotting the Alban Hills, southeast of Rome. Romans have escaped here for centuries - for the lakes, the country villas, the wine and the gastronomy - and the towns feel like a balcony high above the distant city.
Elegant Frascati, one of the Castelli Romani hill towns, feels like a balcony high above distant Rome. Life is good here: arrive in time for sunset, then wander the town to find a restaurant with outdoor tables. Noble families used to holiday here, and dotting the green hills around are the Ville Tuscolane, a string of lavish 16th- and 17th-century country houses built by high-ranking papal courtiers. For these competitive aristocrats, a summer residence in the Alban Hills was a prized status symbol, and they commissioned the top architects of the day to design and landscape vast estates for them. Villa Aldobrandini (gardens open mornings only) is one of the most splendid, dominating the town.
Around 6km southeast of Frascati are the ruins of Roman Tusculum (Tuscolo; €4), which feel splendidly forgotten, with views across the hills and beyond to Rome. It is said to have been founded by Telegonus, son of Ulysses and Circe, and Lucullus and Cicero both had summer villas here. Walk along the ancient Roman road up to the enclosed area of ruins, where there is a small amphitheatre.
Tables fill Piazza San Rocco on balmy nights for fresh white wine, porchetta and rustic pasta.
Spectacularly good cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper pasta).
In nearby Monte Porzio Catone; makes its own pasta as well as wine and olive oil.
For an aperitif, Locale is a popular bar for your choice of spritz, with tables out on the cobbled piazza; it opens 6pm-1am Tuesday to Thursday and until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
The small hilltop town of Nemi - the name comes from the Latin nemus, meaning wooded grove - overlooks a perfect indigo lake that was once the site of Caligula's floating palaces. The town is celebrated for its wild strawberries, and berry-pink products of every kind are on sale. A steeply stepped walking trail leads down to the lake (long trousers and trainers or walking shoes advisable), so it is better attempted downhill than uphill; the town is around 30 minutes by bus from Frascati.
Local Venus and Adonis legends have the tiny fragoline (small strawberries) of Nemi symbolising either tears, hearts or drops of blood. They grow in the rich soil on the flanks of the surrounding hills and seem to have been known here since ancient times - in ancient Rome the fruit was eaten to celebrate Adonis in June, which is also its peak season. Today Nemi still celebrates its strawberry festival on the first weekend of June, when local women dress in traditional costume, even more strawberry-based food and drink appears than usual, and the town holds a procession from its church.
Lago di Nemi, below the town (around 2km on foot), is small and rural. You can take the walking trail around the lake and go for a swim, with access from a couple of spots, including next to La Fiocina restaurant near the museum. On the way you will see the meagre ruins of the Roman Temple of Diana - and, incredibly, the Romans built a 1600m-long underground drain from the lake to stop the temple flooding.
Museum of Roman Ships, built during Mussolini's time in the shape of boathouses to hold the astounding finds from Caligula's barges, with fascinating material about the wrecks and how they were raised.
Official site →Excellent wisteria-draped restaurant with views over Lago Albano.
Simple place off the main drag with hearty pasta and a must-try strawberry tiramisu.
Nab a window table for great views; pasta dishes are a cut above.
Lakeside restaurant with seafood and pasta dishes; you can swim in the lake via a path next to this rustic place.
Since 2016, the Palazzo Apostolico, the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo, has been open to the public, so you can nose around where successive popes have spent their summers. The furniture looks resolutely uncomfortable, but the views soar over Lago Albano from every room. The prime location was formerly the site of the tyrannical Emperor Domitian's villa; the Gandolfi family later built a medieval palace here, which passed to the Savelli family, whose debts led to it being seized by the papacy. In 1604 Pope Clement began summering here, and Pope Alexander VII rebuilt the palace in 1660. Popemobiles fill a courtyard, including a bulletproof jeep and a Piaggio Ape (autorickshaw).
The papal summer palace at Castel Gandolfo, open to the public since 2016, with uncomfortable-looking furniture, soaring views over Lago Albano and a courtyard full of popemobiles.
Official site →Close by are the larger papal gardens, visited on an hour-long tour aboard a mini-train that takes in Roman ruins and the papal helipad; buy tickets at the Palazzo Apostolico.
The dark blue expanse of Lago Albano fills a steeply banked, wooded crater below the town. You can rent a sunlounger, go for a swim or hire a boat. Walkers can follow the Sentiero Lago Albano trail around the lake: starting on the south side at Via de Pescatori, you will find a swimming access point around 800m along the trail. The Sentiero del Diavolo is a higher-up walking trail that passes the remains of the ancient Roman aqueduct.
Grottaferrata's Italo-Greek monastery is the only one of its kind left in the country. Only a few monks remain, dressed in orthodox black robes and distinctive flat-topped round hats. Cicero once had a villa on this site, and you can see the sweeping views to Rome that drew him here.
Also known as the Abbazia Greca di San Nilo (Abbey of St Nilus), the last Italo-Greek monastery in Italy, founded on land donated to the Basilian monks by the Count of Tusculum in 1004.
Tip: On Sundays there are free tours of the Ad Decimum Catacombs, with 4th- and 5th-century murals.
Official site →Fortifications were added 400 years after the foundation to provide a protective perimeter. Grottaferrata translates as 'iron cave', named after an ancient Roman funerary monument that was enclosed with iron railings; that monument was turned into an oratory in the 5th century and later incorporated into the Chiesa di Santa Maria, where you can see it to the right as you enter the bejewelled, icon-laden church. The interior includes some 17th-century frescoes by Domenichino in the Cappella Farnesiana and a revered Byzantine image of Santa Maria. The complex has a great little museum (€5) displaying fine pieces of marble Roman decoration discovered here, including a funeral stele depicting a reading boy.
Driving is the easiest way to tour the Castelli Romani: the roads are quiet, apart from rush hour and weekends. This classic loop runs 42km from Frascati to Nemi and can be stretched over one to two days.
Rough-and-ready with basic tables, close lake views and Castelli favourites like porchetta and local white wine.
Standout among the lake-edge trattorias, immersed in greenery and with creative Italian cuisine.
Elegant Grottaferrata restaurant in a boutique albergo (hotel) with fresh pasta under rustic arches.
Vintage tile floor, fresh pasta, excellent gnocchi and seasonal dishes.