Civita di Bagnoregio, is noted for its striking position atop a plateau of friable volcanic tuff overlooking the Tiber river valley, in constant danger of destruction as its edges fall off, leaving the buildings built on the plateau to crumble.
     
   
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Civita di Bagnoregio
  
 
   

Civita di Bagnoregio, la città che muore located in a vast canyon atop a pinnacle ruled by wind and erosion. Perched on top of a hill among the valleys formed by Chiaro and Torbido streams, Civita appears clinged to the edge of a cliff where it dominates the wide desolated valley made up of calanchi. This isolation is the result of a continuous erosion that makes the tufa rock becoming thinner and thinner, the rock upon which Bagnoregio was built rests on layers of clay which over time tend to slip downwards, thus determining the collapse of sections of the rock above them. This explains why it is called il paese che muore, the dying town.

Civita is connected to the town of Bagnoregio by a narrow pedestrian bridge. The original bridge that connected these two villages eroded away over the centuries and was bombed out during WWII. In 1965 a new bridge was built for local foot traffic- si va a piedi. The walk is long but the view is spectacular! You enter the town through an archway, Santa Maria gate, cut in the rock made by Etruscans 2.500 years ago. This was once the main Etruscan road leading to the Tiber Valley and Rome. Soon you will find yourself in Piazza San Donato or Piazza del Duomo. Nearby the Chiesa San Donato (8th century – the only church in town, built upon a pagan temple) there is a Romanesque bell tower or campanile (8th century) and the, now a government building. The church of San Donato was the cathedral of Bagnoregio until 1699, when this role was assigned to a new church built in the safer area where most of the inhabitants had moved. It has an elegant Renaissance façade while the interior is medieval.
Near the church there is a wine cellar and an olive press that dates back to Etruscan times.
 
Bagnoregio

    

Bagnoregio is located between Orvieto and Bolsena, at the boundary of Latium. The Neolitic village was the abode of the Etruscan and Roman civilizations that gave it honour and fame. Some finds seem to testify that the first settlements date back actually to a pre-Etruscan age. In the past it was sacked several times, by the Visigoths, the Goths, the Longobards and the Bysantines. In 600 it was already a bishops seat.
The St. Augustines church dates back to the period which goes from the XI to the XIV century. The bell tower of successive age, dating back to 1735. The church in fact keeps unchanged the characteristics of the Romanesque style in which it was built. It is rich in tablets and frescos.

The San Bonaventura Church, designed by the architect Pietro Gagliardi, was built in 1862 on the remains of an old building. It is characteristic for the Greek-cross plan and the Neoclassic dome.

The cathedral

It rose from the ruins of a very old church, according to some historians it dates back actually to 440 and in the past was dedicated to the Madonna della Neve. Inside there is a XII century parchment bible, jealously kept, that probably belonged to San Bonaventura.

  
The village of Lubriano is right on the border of Southern Umbria. As you enter Lubriano from the main road, (where all the tour buses stop to gaze across at Civita) there is a small square, protected by chestnut trees. There is a small fountain, an exellent view over the Calanchi valley, and a small war memorial in the middle. The square is called the Col di Lana, the Square of the Wool. The sheep from the valley were assembled here for shearing.    
 
   
Civita di Bagnoregio, Castel Cellesi en Vetriolo are part of Bagnoregio.


Civita di Bagnoregio, is noted for its striking position atop a plateau of friable volcanic tuff overlooking the Tiber river valley, in constant danger of destruction as its edges fall off, leaving the buildings built on the plateau to crumble. For more information about this hidden treasure visit a web publication Accross the Bridge: A portrait of Civita di Bagnoregio by Carol Martin Wat.