Less than two hours from Rome is one of Lazio’s most beautiful villages, which looks like it’s suspended in time: Sermoneta. It is a walled hill town, with a 13th-century Romanesque cathedral and a well-preserved 13th-century castle, built by the powerful Caetani family, whose story is strictly intertwined with the story of Sermoneta.

You could start your visit right at the Castle, which stands in the town’s historic center, admiring first its massive external walls, proceeding then inside to the rooms, decorated with splendid frescoes by the painter Girolamo Siciolante, later renamed ‘Sermoneta.’