Mike Cinson asked earlier if I wanted to take a day trip on Friday and I said sure. He suggested we visit Civita di Bagnoregio. Listed as one of the top 10 things to see near Rome. He thought we could get there by taking a short train ride to Orvieto and then a bus over to Bagnoregio.
Turns out it was impossible to travel there easily by public transportation because the bus schedule from Orvieto to Bagnoregio was irregular, e.g. no busses ran from 9A till noon. and none between 2P and 5P. So we decided to travel by car. Mike printed directions and we set out on an adventure. We had to travel through Rome because Civita is north of Rome and we were south of Rome. So we decided to delay our departure till after 9A to try and avoid rush hour traffic. Our planning worked perfectly. Although there was some stop and go traffic near Rome we still made it to Bagnoregio by 11:30A.
Here is what you see when you pull up to the parking area in Bagnoregio. The view of Civita like an island in a huge valley still astounds me.
Civita, the birth place of St. Bonaventure, was the older and grander of the two cities. Bagnoregio was a suburb or twin city. As more and more of the city of Civita crumbled away, the residents moved to Bagnoregio. It is estimated that only 6-10 residents live full time in Civita.
Civita is connected to its sister city by the paved pathway you see below. It is not large enough to drive a car on. But we did see scooters and garden tractors make the crossing.
The city of Bagnoregio itself also sits on a cliff. Although not surrounded by the valley like Civita, it too is in danger of falling as well. We walked down the side of Bagnoregio to find the start of the path in the valley in order to climb up to Civita.
It was a difficult climb for an old man like me, but we made it. The city is a number of small streets or alleys that cannot go very far because of the surrounding cliffs.
We did find the church. There is always a church with a large open area or piazza in front and a Romanesque bell tower.
The town has more stray cats than people. And the crumbled stone piazza in front of the church reminded Michael of a giant litter box. The town had many beautiful arches, doorways, and adorned walls. The view out to the valley was spectacular.
We stopped for a light lunch. We had brought some cheese, crackers, and salami with us. Probably should have brought a bottle of wine as well. There were a number of small cafes and B&B's in the city. And the cats followed you wherever you went. We did find an espresso bar with some nice postcards. Apparently the 6-10 inhabitants all make their living running little tourist shops and cafes. Regrettably, none of the cafes had a scenic view!
I included these last two pictures for a couple reasons. One, I really liked the look of the wall construction in Civita. While similar to other old villages it Italy, to me it looked different somehow. Not sure why. Secondly, I took these pictures because I am pretty sure there is nothing behind the one door on the right other than daylight. Just further evidence of the "fall" of Civita.
We made our way back down the pathway and back up the cliff into Bagnoregio. Turns out, we could have avoided that climb as there was a parking lot closer to the start of the pathway. All in all a great experience. Amazing to see in person. And we had a beautiful day to enjoy it. We made our way back to campus with only one brief wrong turn. Michael did a great job driving Italian style and I was a great navigator. The wrong turn was not my fault!
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