Postcards from Italy 2012: Civita di Bagnoregio

Civita di Bagnoregio

Bagnoregio is a nondescript little town south of Orvieto with a long, straight street named Corso (as in "race course") which is typical of most Italian towns and cities. Near Bagnoregio is what was once, perhaps, the oldest neighborhood of the town, a little town now called Civita di Bagnoregio. Civita was built on a hilltop and was connected to what became Bagnoregio by a narrow road that ran across a narrow strip of rock that lay upon loose soil. In the 1960s the soil gave way and the road connecting Civita to Bagnoregio and the rest of the world fell into a pile of rubble down the steep slopes that surround Civita.

Wisteria and erosion features

The little town of Civita was cut off from the world by the collapse. Soon after the government built a foot bridge to connect Civita to Bagnoregio again. The footbridge is study and strong but limited in width. Everything that supplies the town of Civita comes across the footbridge. The Civita town government has an employee who works from 12 noon to 3pm bringing supplies across the footbridge to the restaurants and shops in Civita. Each time someone uses the service, the charge is 5 Euro.

Parking lot in the distance

Only two families actually live in the town. There is a little parking lot at the Bagnoregio end of the footbridge for the people who work in Civita. And a good number of people actually work in the little, isolated town since Civita is a destination for people who are curious about the history and the nature of this particular little town.

We had our choice from among three or four full fledged restaurants, six or seven bruschetterias (places for simple, informal munching), and a couple of coffee bars. It was a beautiful day and we ate outside.

The population of the town is dominated by cats. Cats are everywhere and they seem well cared for. When we sat for lunch in a restaurant three cats took turns staring at us, hoping for something to fall to the ground.

Spring in Civita

The underlying problem for the little town of Civita is that it is built on some resistant layers of rock which in turn are laid upon much less resistant layers of rock. The cliffs are made of the resistant rock; the footbridge reaches across a span where the resistant layer of rock gave way. Rivers on either side of Civita has eroded the less resistant rock under Civita and several times in recent history the connection to Bagnoregio has been compromised. One such time was during World War II when, as the Germans retreated, they blew up a masonry bridge that connected the two towns. A wooden footbridge was built after the war but that was brought down by a collapse in 1963. The present foot bridge dates to the mid-1960s.

The mayor of Civita

Civita is more than a curiosity. Orvieto is a much larger town but the structure underlying Orvieto is the same and parts of Orvieto have been prone to landslides, too. Orvieto, however, does not have rivers undercutting the foundation of the settlement on all sides and, in general, is on a more sound footing.

For more information about Civita and other people’s reactions, see any of these:

Pictures of Civita di Bagnoregio

A sunrise/sunset photo of Civita di Bagnoregio taken by someone with patience and/or time and a really nice camera.

Google’s collection of photos of Civita di Bagnoregio including some more pictures of cats. The place is very photogenic but the place is even more interesting visually in person.