Small towns near Rome

Orvieto, north of Rome, is a hilltown that was an Etruscan city long before the Roman civilization. It’s easily reached by train from Rome.

Tivoli, east of Rome, is initially where the emperor Hadrian built a spectacular palace complex (now a very interesting archaeological site), and is today an authentic community. We reached it via bus from Rome.

Bracciano has a good rail connection and has one of the best castles I've explored. There's a good sized medieval neighborhood with narrow streets and restaurants and good views of the volcanic Lake Bracciano.
https://www.marthasitaly.com/articles/203/bracciano-travel-guide

This may not be what you are looking for (and you possibly may have already gone there) but my favorite day trip from Rome was to Ostia Antica - it's about a 30 minute train ride from Rome and the entire setting is a delight. Ostia is a large archaeological site that is the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome. It was covered in silt from the Tiber River over 1000 years ago, and discovered in the 1800's, so it is relatively intact. Some of the ruins go back to the 4th century BC. There are many ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes and beautiful mosaics. It was probably one of my favorite places I visited in Rome.

There is a park nearby where you can bring a picnic lunch and sit and enjoy the beautiful setting also. I highly recommend visiting Ostia. The link above is the official website, but this site is worth a visit as it has a lot of information about the archeology and the historic town. https://www.ostia-antica.org

Take a look at Viterbo.

hey hey jstubbs68
visitcastelliromani.com
withlocals.com/ rome
beautiful countryside day trip: castelli romani
contact pierpaolo, pickup is in frascati but if you decide to stay there he can pick you up at hotel and make arrangements
wanderingitaly.com/ castelli romani
summer home & gardens of the pope
italymagazine.com/ lake nemi and its wild berry
lacucinaitaliana.com/ the buxom cookie from frascati
20-30 minute train ride from roma termini to frascati, out in the country known for it's wine.
saw a special on TV about ceralli.it, small pizza oven/bakery family owned, makes the "best porchetta"
oldfrascati.com
read up about the tours, about them and their blog in their small village away from hustle & bustle of rome.
stay in a hotel on lake nemi or a hotel in the small town of frascati. enjoy
aloha

Second for Orvieto and Ostia antica!

Orvieto has an unusual number of sightseeing options for a not-large city, and it's very picturesque. It also gets a lot of tourist traffic--much of it Italian. I suspect it may be a bit quieter on weekdays than on weekends, but I have no statistics to back that up.

Viterbo has a large historic area and far, far fewer tourists. I think it would be a good place to get away from the mobs, but the density of attractions in Orvieto makes it special.

Yo JS,
Not so much a small town, but still eminently worthy: Ninfa Gardens.
I am done. the end

Along with Bracciano.

https://www.italyreview.com/lake-bracciano.html

This area may be of interest. About 30 minutes by train from Roma. Sabina Hills.

https://www.conviviorome.com/

We also enjoyed our two day stay in Orvieto. I think there were 9 places to see on their travel
Pass and we saw 8. Lots to see for a small town. Good food & wine too. We had a private guide for a two hour tour and she really gave us great insight.

Travel passes in small cities are often good deals. Those for major cities, not so much (in my experience).