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Civita di Bagnoregio: the city that dies

I am going to tell you about a very special Italian village, which is definitely worth a visit. It is Civita, an hamlet of the municipality of Bagnoregio, in Viterbo province, in Lazio.

The village is so enchanting that it has been included in the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy, and this despite the definition of “The city that dies” given to it by the writer Bonaventura Tecchi, who spent his youth there.

“Ed è rimasta un attimo così, lieta e pensosa, contro quello sfondo balenante di scrimi bianchi e di abissi paurosi, come se la bellezza di un viso di donna che scende nel cuore di un uomo sia veramente una delle cose più dure a morire in questa breve, fuggevole vita.”
– Bonaventura Tecchi, “Antica terra” (1947)

The village of Civita Bagnoregio, Fonte Thinkstock

Civita di Bagnoregio

Civita di Bagnoregio has an ancient history behind, dating back to around 2500 years ago, the city was founded in the third century BC. by the ancient Etruscans, along one of the most important communication routes between the Tiber river and Lake Bolsena.

Unfortunately, it is not its ancient origin that makes the town of Civita famous, but the progressive erosion of the hill and the surrounding valley which gave life to the typical forms of  badlands. Continuous erosion in fact risks making the entire hamlet disappear, hence the name “The city that dies” given to it by Bonaventura Tecchi. Do you think that a study carried out on the village has revealed an average erosion of about 7 centimeters per year and it has been estimated that only in the last 500 years its surface has been reduced by 20-25%!

What are the badlands?

The badlands are a geomorphological phenomenon of soil erosion due to the effect of water washout on degraded clayey rocks, with poor vegetation cover and therefore little protected from runoff. The badlands are (more simply) deep furrows in the ground along the side of a mountain or a hill.

The village of Civita Bagnoregio, Fonte Thinkstock

The village houses the “Geological and Landslide Museum“, a museum diffused throughout the territory, which is the central point of the initiatives dedicated to the problem of erosion. This problem was actually strongly perceived even in ancient times, in fact already at the time of the Etruscan foundation of the city, various interventions were implemented with the aim of protecting the site from earthquakes and recurrent landslides, damming rivers and building drains for the correct outflow of rainwater. Under the subsequent Roman conquest, efforts were made to implement further interventions which, however, were gradually overlooked after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

We know that the Etruscans made Civita, whose ancient name we ignore, a thriving city, thanks to its proximity to the most important communication routes of the time, which favored its strategic position in the commercial sphere. Traces of its Etruscan origin can be found in the urban planning of the town, which seems to preserve an organization in cardo and decumans according to the Etruscan and then Roman tradition, while the entire architectural cladding is attributable to the medieval and Renaissance ages.

Il borgo di Civita Bagnoregio, Fonte Thinkstock

Numerous testimonies of its Etruscan phase are still visible today, such as the suggestive “Bucaione“, a deep tunnel that affects the lower part of the town, and which allows direct access to the town from the underlying Valle dei Calanchi. This consists of two main valleys, the Fossato del Rio Torbido and the Fossato del Rio Chiaro, and extends between Lake Bolsena to the west and the Tiber Valley to the east.

Further evidence of the Etruscan past can be found in the numerous chamber tombs, present at the base of the cliff on which Civita stands and in the surrounding tuff walls which, over the centuries, were largely engulfed by countless landslides. Etruscan necropolises are also attested in the area called San Francesco Vecchio – in the cliff below the viewpoint of the same name – and still a chamber tomb has been found in the cave of San Bonaventura, inside which it is said that Saint Francesco healed little Giovanni Fidanza, which later became known under the name of Saint Bonaventura.

The village of Civita Bagnoregio, Fonte Thinkstock

The ancient town of Civita could be accessed through five doors. Today access to the village only through the main door called Santa Maria or della Cava, which is characterized by being surmounted by a pair of lions, represented while clawing two human heads. It is the symbolic representation of the tyrants defeated by the people of Bagnore during the Renaissance.

The episode can be traced back to the insurrection of the inhabitants of the village against the Monaldeschi family which imposed restrictive administrative and economic rules on them. After violent rebellions, the people of Bagnore obtained independence, which however lasted until the establishment of the Congregation of Good Governance (1592), with which every municipal activity was subject to the control of the Church.

The village of Civita Bagnoregio, Fonte Thinkstock

Almost a century later, following the dramatic earthquake of 1695, Civita began to gradually depopulate and subsequent earthquakes contributed to the complete isolation of the village. The rocky outcrop on which it was built is in fact of a tufaceous nature, a particularly “soft” stone and the same rests on a clay substrate, subject to natural weathering erosion. As mentioned above, the precariousness of this territory pushed its various employees, over time, to seek solutions to stem this phenomenon. Unfortunately, the slow and continuous movement of the valley has caused several landslides over the centuries, which have inevitably led to a change in the shape of the spur on which the entire village rests.

To date, only a dozen brave inhabitants who are tenaciously tied to love for their native land reside and guard the ancient village, taking care of it constantly. And it is thanks to them that Civita appears to the eyes of numerous tourists as a village with still predominantly medieval features, which can be accessed through the high and long concrete bridge, built in 1965, which connects it to the hinterland.

In the alleys of Civita

The village of Civita can only be accessed via the high pedestrian bridge at a cost of 1.50 euros. Before starting the walk along the bridge you can see a statue representing a woman with a bird resting on her shoulder, looking at the city that slowly dies and greets from afar. Engraved on the base of the sculpture are the words of Bonaventura Tecchi.

At the end of the bridge is the large Porta di Santa Maria which allows access to the characteristic alleys of the town. Walking through them you can admire the reddish stone houses, the Church of San Donato, which houses the Wooden crucifix, the Bishop’s Palace, the birthplace of San Bonaventura and the cave dedicated to him.

Among the medieval houses present there you can also find some Renaissance buildings, such as those of the Colesanti, Bocca and Alemanni, with the typical low houses with balconies and external stairs called “profferli”, typical of Viterbo’s architecture of the Middle Ages.

What else to add …? I leave the photos to further express the beauty of the village.

The village of Civita Bagnoregio and the statue, Fonte Thinkstock
The village of Civita Bagnoregio, the Porta di Santa Maria, Fonte Thinkstock
The village of Civita Bagnoregio, the Church of San Donato, Fonte Thinkstock
Il borgo di The village of Civita Bagnoregio, Fonte ThinkstockBagnoregio, Fonte Thinkstock

Come raggiungere Civita di Bagnoregio

By car

From the north highway A1 exit Orvieto (for Bagnoregio 18 km, about 25 minutes).

From the south A1 motorway, Attigliano exit (for Bagnoregio 30 km, about 35 minutes); take the Provincial Road 19 Valle del Tevere and the Provincial Road 5 Teverina passing through Castiglione in Teverina.

Camper

Campers cannot reach the parking lots at the bridge for Civita.

The campers must be parked in Piazzale Battaglini at the beginning of the town or towards Viterbo before the cemetery.

By bus

Coaches will have to park in Piazzale Bersaglieri at a cost of € 40 per day, but will have the opportunity to stop getting up and down in Piazzale Battaglini.

By bus

Here you can consult the timetables of the COTRAL lines, otherwise you can contact the company from a landline phone 800.174.471 and a cell phone 06.7205.7205 (from Monday to Friday from 8 to 18).

By train

The railway stations from which Bagnoregio can be reached are Viterbo and Orvieto, from where COTRAL bus lines can be taken.

Here you can consult the timetables of the COTRAL lines, otherwise you can contact the company from a landline phone 800.174.471 and a cell phone 06.7205.7205 (from Monday to Friday from 8 to 18).

By plane

The airport is Rome Fiumicino or Rome Ciampino

From the airport you can reach Termini Station by train and from here, by train you can reach Orvieto.

With urban transport from Civita (ticket on board)

For Civita: from Piazzale Battaglini to piazza Alberto Ricci (Belvedere Park)

From Civita: from piazza Alberto Ricci (Belvedere Park) to Piazzale Battaglini

Tel. 0761.82.00.14, 0761.82.34.59

Civita di Bagnoregio app

For more information download the “Civita di Bagnoregio” app completely free of charge.

The Civita di Bagnoregio app is a simple and intuitive guide, it has been designed and structured to offer all the necessary information to enjoy these beautiful landscapes in maximum comfort (parking, restaurants, hotels, b & b and commercial activities).

Trained at the University of Turin, where she obtained her three-year degree in Cultural Heritage Sciences and her master's degree in History of Archaeological and Historical-Artistic Heritage, she specialized at the University of Milan, graduating in Archaeological Heritage. Freelancer, she deals with computer archeology and virtual heritage, museum displays, 2D graphics and multimedia products applied to cultural heritage. Collaborates with various public and private bodies in the field of projects related to the research, enhancement, communication and promotion of cultural heritage. She deals with the creation of cultural itineraries relating to the entire Italian Peninsula and the development of content (creation of texts and photographic production) for paper and virtual publications. Her study interests include the development of new techniques and means of communication for the enhancement of cultural heritage and the evolution of the symbolism of power between the Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

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