Civita di Bagnoregio: The Town That Is Dying

After Ferragosto we decided to visit an area we didn't know and that stayed in our hearts: Viterbo and its surroundings... As a first stop we visited Civita di Bagnoregio, better named, by its son Bonaventura Tecchi, The town that is dying. The tuff hill on which it stands is undermined at the base by the continuous erosion of two streams that flow in the valleys below and by the action of rain and wind: it is therefore crumbling, slowly but inexorably. The village, where a few families still manage to live, is collapsing, evaporating - it is fading away: tomorrow it will be nothing but a mirage, like the most beautiful dreams, like everything that reveals fragility, human powerlessness. The almost sealed fate of the place, the unreal landscape of the clay gullies that besiege the village, their gloomy colours contrasting with the golden ones of the tuff, make Civita a unique place.

From the Belvedere there is a fantastic view that stays in your heart. Civita is linked to the world by a single narrow bridge 300 metres long, slightly uphill; it rests gently on a knoll, with its tuft of medieval houses. Venturing into the built-up area, the first important monument you meet is Porta S. Maria, topped by a pair of lions clawing two human heads, symbol of the tyrants defeated by the people of Bagnoregio. Further on, via S. Maria opens into the main square, where you can admire the Romanesque Church of S. Donato, remodelled in the 16th century. In it are kept a wonderful 15th-century wooden Crucifix, from the school of Donatello, and a fresco from the school of Perugino.

The Renaissance palazzi of the Colesanti, Bocca and Alemanni families stand out in the little streets with the typical low houses with small balconies and external staircases, typical of medieval Viterbo architecture. Bagnoregio is also known for the miracle of St Bonaventure, healed after his mother had invoked St Francis of Assisi in the cave near the convent that has now been destroyed. We ate in one of the many osterias the typical local bruschette...