Calcata and the Treja Valley: a village on the rock and a river among woods.

The Treja valley is a gorge of volcanic tuff covered in woodland, about 45 km north of Rome, between the provinces of Rome and Viterbo. It's protected by a small regional park of a few hundred hectares, with two villages on the rock, Calcata and Mazzano Romano, a river with waterfalls and the traces of the Faliscans, the people who lived here before Rome arrived. It's the Sunday outing of many Romans: walk by the river in the morning and eat in Calcata.

Calcata is the draw. A medieval village with walls the same colour as the rock, on an isolated crag in the middle of the forest, which in the 20th century nearly disappeared and was saved by artists and craftspeople who came from all over Italy and beyond. Today a few dozen people live there, among workshops and shops.

How do you get there from Rome?

By car, around an hour from the centre, via the Flaminia or the Cassia bis. Calcata's old town is closed to cars: park in the new village and walk down. For the valley trail, the starting point is Monte Gelato, in the municipality of Mazzano Romano, with parking next to the waterfalls.

Without a car there's no convenient connection for a day: there's no train, and regional buses are scarce. If you don't drive, look at Tivoli or Lake Bracciano, which have trains.

What to do in the valley?

Walk. The Monte Gelato to Calcata trail is the park's classic: 7 km, three and a half hours and only 100 metres of ascent, along the bank of the Treja, the village of Mazzano Romano, a suspension bridge and the remains of a Faliscan temple. It's linear: leave a car at each end or come back the same way. If you have less time, stay at the Monte Gelato waterfalls, or go down from Calcata to the temple of Monte Li Santi and the suspension bridge, an hour and a half there and back.

Stroll round the villages. Calcata Vecchia can be seen in an hour: the double gate under the battlements of the Anguillara palace, the square, the deconsecrated church, the Porta Segreta by which people escaped during sieges and the craftspeople's shops. Mazzano Romano, halfway along the route, has its wash house and its way down to the river.

Cook on a farm. The pasta workshop at Le Forre del Treja, in Civita Castellana, lasts three hours and ends with lunch and wine at the farm: €95 per person, by reservation.

Where to eat?

In Calcata. La Piazzetta cooks homemade pasta and its tringozzo, with outdoor tables; it closes Wednesday and Thursday and admits dogs. Book on Sundays.

In the countryside, a few minutes by car, two farms serve meals at the weekend: the Le Forre del Treja restaurant, Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes, with its ancient-grain pasta and meat from the estate, and the Agriturismo I Tre Tigli, in Rignano Flaminio, with homemade pasta, tagliata and pinsa, and Tolfetano horses in the meadow.

Where to sleep?

In Calcata there's almost no accommodation, but around it there is. On an organic farm next to the valley, Le Forre del Treja has rooms in a farmhouse and studios with a pool, from €77 a night. To sleep in a village with life, the Residenza Palazzo Fortuna occupies a frescoed 16th-century palace in the centre of Civita Castellana. For several days with a kitchen, the Agriturismo La Ghiga, in the Nepi countryside, rents three cottages with a patio and a saltwater pool.

When to go?

In spring and autumn: the river runs full, the woods are green or golden and walking is pleasant. In summer the valley gives shade, but the waterfalls carry less water and on Sundays it fills up. After rain, the trail turns muddy: wear hiking footwear in any season.