Stay – Castello di Proceno

A crenellated medieval affair with a working drawbridge, Castello di Proceno rises imperiously above the village of the same name, close to the border between Tuscany and Lazio, in a verdant landscape of chestnut woods and hay fields. Within the walls are seven guest apartments and three suites, all done out in cosy Italian grandma style. Best buys are the four-berth seasonal suites, Primavera, Estate and Autunno (from €720 a week), each with a private terrace or garden. Inside the keep is a private museum of priestly robes, musical instruments and other historic gewgaws; there's also a wine bar featuring an original Etruscan tomb. Paths lined with wisteria and iris lead down to the pool and summer restaurant.
• Corso Regina Margherita 155, Proceno, +39 0763 710072, castellodiproceno.it. Apartments sleeping two to five from €520 a week, suites sleeping two from €100 a night

Explore – La Riserva Naturale Monte Rufeno

Monte Rufeno nature reserve occupies more than 7,000 acres of rolling oak forest on the borders of Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany. It's a wild corner of Italy, the haunt of boar and porcupine. Inside the reserve, three stone casali (farmhouses) offer simple – some might say spartan – accommodation, ranging from doubles with en suites to quad rooms. Large groups can rent an entire farmhouse, with kitchen. If you prefer to be cooked for, the restaurant at five-room Casale Monaldesca serves hearty local fare. The reserve is crisscrossed by walking, biking and riding trails, and there are horses for hire.
• Strada Trevinano Monaldesca 44, Acquapendente, +39 335 364322, lamonaldesca.it. Doubles from €60 B&B, dinner €21

Relax – Il Bagnaccio hot spring

One of the joys of the volcanic northern reaches of Lazio is the abundance of hot springs, perfect for a restorative wallow. Some, especially around Viterbo, have been channelled into thermal resorts with a faintly institutional feel, but many rise in open countryside and attract a democratic mix of locals (who see free thermal pools as a basic human right) and adventurous tourists. One of the best is Il Bagnaccio, where pools have been carved out of white clay in a bucolic landscape that can't have changed much since Etruscan times. Bring a towel and claim your corner.
• Il Bagnaccio is 6km north of Viterbo. To get there, take SS2, Strada Cassia Nord, then bear left on to SP7 to Marta and Capodimonte. After less than a mile, keep an eye out for a shapeless Roman ruin on your left and drive down the track in front of it to the springs

Drink – Sergio Mottura wines

Orvieto may be better known, but some of the best white wines in the area between Rome and Florence are made around Civitella d'Agliano, an unassuming town half an hour's drive east of Lake Bolsena. The leading producer is a cultured gentleman by the name of Sergio Mottura, whose main cellar occupies a 16th-century manor house that doubles as an 11-room country-chic hotel and summer restaurant, La Tana dell'Istrice (the porcupine's burrow). The estate's award-winning Poggio della Costa white, made from 100% grechetto grapes, is a snip at €10.80 a bottle at the cellar door.
• Piazza Unità d'Italia 12, Civitella d'Agliano, +39 0761 914501, motturasergio.it

Eat – La Tana dell'Orso

Surrounded by vineyards, market gardens and oak woods, this country restaurant with opera-box views is a charming venue for a long summer lunch. Grilled or baked lake fish such as coregone (whitefish), tench and eel vie with meaty mains like lamb in red wine with porcini, but vegetarians are also catered for with classic ribollita soup and an encyclopedic cheese board – the personal passion of owner Bruno. Wrap up your meal with walnut and chocolate biscuits dipped in aleatico dessert wine.
• Località Montesegnale 162, Bolsena, +39 0761 798162. Closed all day Thursday and Sunday evening. Average €25 a head without wine

See – Lake Bolsena

Largest of the three volcanic lakes north of Rome, Bolsena is the most characterful (and least thronged with daytrippers). Of the lake towns, Bolsena itself has the readiest charm, with its centro storico and Collegiata di Santa Cristina church, a historical layer cake whose earliest parts date from 11th century. The little town of Marta on the southern shore – scene of an evocative spring procession called La Barabbata on 14 May – is also worth a visit, but perhaps best of all is Isola Bisentina, a romantic island reached by ferry from Bolsena, Marta or Capodimonte. With seven oratories in various states of disrepair and an artfully gothic landscape cared for by present owner Prince Giovanni del Drago, it's a fine place for a tryst, a swim or a picnic.
• Naviga Bolsena (navigabolsena.com) in Capodimonte has boat trips from €6pp

Eat – Gelateria Santa Cristina

Bolsena just happens to be home to one of Italy's finest gourmet ice-cream emporiums. The coffee flavour of gelato maestros Anna Cristina Salomone and her husband Giulio carried off the top award at the prestigious ice-cream world cup in Rimini in 2008, while their Piedmont hazelnut picked up third prize a year later. But it's the ricotta and cinnamon flavour that Anna Cristina considers the house speciality. Despite the quality ingredients, prices are no higher than usual, starting at €2 for a small cone or tub.
• Corso della Repubblica 8, Bolsena, +39 0761 798758. Open daily

Tour – Vignanello garden

A rewarding half-day trip from Bolsena, this labyrinth of immaculately clipped box hedges has resisted the vagaries of garden fashion to come down to us unchanged from the early 17th century. Hidden in the 12 parterres are the initials of the garden's founder, Ottavia Orsini, and her sons. The current owner, the formidable but simpatica Princess Claudia Ruspoli, personally guides visitors around the garden which she has restored with passion. Tours, which also take in her castle home, Castello Ruspoli, take place on Sundays from April to the end of October. Groups can visit by appointment at other times too.
• Piazza della Repubblica, Vignanello, +39 0761 755338, castelloruspoli.com, €10pp

Visit – Civita di Bagnoregio

Isolated on an eroded spur of volcanic tufa, this improbably perched hamlet is famous as il paese che muore – the dying village. But patronage from the likes of Prince Charles and Unesco have helped shore up what's left of the slowly crumbling borgo, and today this once inaccessible community with a winter population of fewer than 20 souls is one of the area's main tourist draws. Reached via a bracingly modern pedestrian bridge, Civita has little to offer beyond some craft shops and photogenic plant-draped tufa houses (the house where Saint Bonaventure was born has long since fallen into the valley along with dozens of others), but it's still an unmissable sight.
• 24km north of Viterbo, follow signs to Montefiascone, then Bagnoregio

Stay – La Montagnola

Just outside Gradoli, La Montagnola is a comfortably contemporary two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor of a villa with stunning lake views from the pool and adjacent shaded pergola. With weekly rates from £860, it's a well-priced option for two couples, with serious cooking facilities. The British owners live upstairs – not ideal if you're looking for isolation, but it does mean you have two friendly, English-speaking experts on hand for dining and sightseeing advice.
• Book through Cottages to Castles, cottagestocastles.com