On our last day in Rome, we decided to go on another adventure. We loved the idea of seeing another city/town in Italy besides Rome and Venice. We went to the Termini station again, where all the trains leave from, and we hopped on a train to a small town just north of Rome called Bracciano. (Bracciano is pronounced "Bra-chano" with accent on the second 'a' and pronounced as the 'a' in 'dawn')
It was only about an hour train ride, and the town was so small that we had no problem walking everywhere. The town is famous for its volcanic lake and for the well preserved medieval castle. Right next to the castle, there is actually a medieval village as well. Lake Bracciano is one of the major lakes of Italy, and it is so beautiful with surrounding mountains. I have actually learned (thanks to wikipedia)...
The lake serves as a drinking water reservoir for the city of Rome. It has been under control since 1986 in order to avoid pollution of its waters. The use of motorboats is strictly forbidden (exceptions being made for a few professional fisherman and the authorities), and a centralised sewer system has been built for all the bordering towns in order to avoid any spoiling of the water quality. This makes Bracciano one of the cleanest lakes of Italy. The absence of motorized navigation (apart from police boats) favours sailing and canoeing. It also is good for swimming, except for the fact that there is a type of parasitical fluke in the lake, commonly known as "swimmer's itch".
So, instead of going swimming in the lake, we walked down the mountain/hill from the town to the lake and explored. Soon, we got tired of walking, put down a towel near the water and took a short nap. We walked back up to the town and got a private tour of the castle! (because no one else was there for the English tour) It was so gorgeous! (see website for castle)
We took a lot of pictures, drank in the aura of medieval times and Italian castles, and then got back on the train toward Rome.
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