Situated just outside the border of Umbria, Viterbo is home to an important Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Tuscia, and the Italian Army’s Aviation Command headquarters. The old town centre is enclosed in its medieval walls, still intact, and is surrounded by more recent buildings, which constitute the modern centre of Viterbo.

Home of the Etruscan and then Roman civilization, Viterbo visibly developed culturally and socially during the Middle-ages, especially when, in the thirteen century, was chosen by Pope Alessandro IV as Papal siege.

The presence of the Pope nurtured the cultural and artistic growth of Viterbo, fuelling the construction of amazing buildings such as the Palazzo Papale (Papal Palace), home to a wide range of priceless artefacts. Other places of interest are the Cattedrale (Chatedral) di San Lorenzo, churches of Santa Maria Nuova and Santa Rosa and the Basilica di San Francesco. In the heart of the old medieval town there are also other points of interest: not to be missed is a visit to the borough of San Pellegrino,  a walk in the Piazza del Plebiscito, a visit to the siege of the Comune and the Prefecture and to the Museo Nazionale Etrusco (National Etruscan Museum) hosted in the Rocca di Albornoz (Albornoz Fortress).