Civita di Bagnoregio

Civita di Bagnoregio is a hill town left standing on a pillar of rock. It sits on a narrow plateau of volcanic tuff over a softer base of clay, and all around it the land has fallen away into the Valle dei Calanchi, a badland of grey and ochre ridges carved by rain and streams. The only way in is a long, narrow pedestrian bridge, about 300 metres of concrete climbing across the gap from Bagnoregio, and walking it toward the town, which grows larger and more improbable with every step, is the essence of the place.

The settlement is ancient: the Etruscans founded it more than 2,500 years ago, and it later became a medieval town of some importance. Saint Bonaventure, the Franciscan theologian, was born here. But the rock is fragile. Erosion keeps eating at the cliff edges, houses and streets have slid into the valley over the centuries, and the town came to be called "the dying town". Only around a dozen people still live here permanently. The present concrete bridge dates from 1965.

Inside, the scale is intimate. You enter through Porta Santa Maria, a gate cut into the rock, and emerge into a few lanes of honey-coloured stone houses, balconies and flowerpots, leading to the small main square and the church of San Donato. Palazzo Alemanni holds a small geological museum that explains why the plateau is crumbling. At the edges of the town the lanes simply stop at the drop, with the badlands spread out below. Civita is one of the "Most Beautiful Villages of Italy" and appears on the World Monuments Fund's watch list; it is often said to have inspired the floating castle of Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky.

Come early in the morning or late in the day, when the light is low and raking across the calanchi and the ridges stand out in relief.

Getting there

Civita di Bagnoregio is reached from the town of Bagnoregio; the provincial capital Viterbo is about 23 km away. The nearest airport is Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi – Umbria International (PEG), around 61 km away. Without a car, the usual route is by train to Orvieto and then a Cotral bus from Orvieto station to Bagnoregio (no Sunday service); from the bus stop it is a short walk to the foot of the bridge.