Civita di Bagnoregio stands on top of a tufa crag that the valley of the calanchi keeps eating away on every side, and it is reached only on foot, along a bridge some three hundred metres long whose last stretch climbs steeply up to the gate. Bonaventura Tecchi, who spent his youth here, called it the town that is dying, and the name has stuck: very few people live inside the walls, the houses look out over the void, and every landslide takes something more off the edge. Half a day is enough, and the best of it is the long loop, from the gate cut into the tufa to the garden that looks out over the calanchi, where the town ends and the valley opens on both sides.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
Two possibilities on the far side of the valley, very different from one another: one with services and a shuttle, the other just somewhere to leave the vehicle.
Area Sosta Camper Lubriano
Piazza Palme, 01020 Lubriano (VT)
this is the municipal area of Lubriano, on the opposite side of the valley from Civita. The shuttle to the viewpoint is paid separately, 15 euros, and it is the easy way to reach the foot of the bridge without moving the vehicle. As the crow flies the town is a little over a kilometre away, but the valley of the calanchi lies in between: you cannot walk it, and by road the way round is five kilometres. On the square there are a bar and a drinking fountain, and the Lubriano viewpoints, the ones from which you photograph the whole of Civita, start from here.
17 pitches
Grey waterElectricityToilets
20 euros for the motorhome pitch, 15 euros the shuttle · comune.lubriano.vt.it
the second option, with no services at all: an open space to leave the vehicle, at Bagnoregio. From the car park to the viewpoint where the bridge starts you walk about twenty minutes through the town, or take the municipal shuttle. What it costs to stay the night we do not know.
The vehicle stays outside the town: nothing on wheels goes into Civita, not even a bicycle
From the Bagnoregio viewpoint down to the foot of the bridge is five minutes on foot
The bridge is about 300 metres long, with no shade at all, and the last third climbs steeply
From the viewpoint to the gate took us a little over twenty minutes, photographs included
Inside the town you walk it in a few steps: one main street, two small squares and lanes that end over the void. The paving is uneven, with steps
A shuttle runs between Bagnoregio, the viewpoint and Lubriano, paid separately: 15 euros from the Lubriano service area
Seeing
Sights
Eight stops in a row, in the order you meet them on the way up: the bridge, the gate, the square, and then the eastern tip, where the tufa is hollowed out and the valley opens. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
The footbridge
Walk · paid entry · 42.62610, 12.10954
it is the only way into Civita since the old tufa saddle collapsed. The concrete walkway starts from the Bagnoregio viewpoint and climbs to Porta di Santa Maria: about three hundred metres, with the last stretch steep and the drop on both sides. The ticket is paid at the near end and covers entry to the town. The view of the crag is earned from here, before you even arrive.
the old and only way into the town. The pointed arch sits inside a keep that in 1558 replaced the medieval gate with its watchtower, to a design by Raffaele Sinibaldi of Montelupo Fiorentino; the name comes from the church that once stood above the arch. On the arch you can make out two carved lions gripping a human head, which tradition ties to the revolt against the Monaldeschi. Below the gate runs the gallery cut into the tufa, which was already the way into the Etruscan town and then the Roman one.
the heart of the village and the centre of its plan, its surface beaten earth, with the old town hall on one side. The few remaining shops and the inns face onto it, and in summer the tables come out on the square. This is where the donkey race is run, twice round the open ground.
it stands opposite the old town hall, on the side of the square that carries its name, and has been an Italian national monument since 1940. Inside it keeps a fifteenth century wooden crucifix, the most precious thing in the village. The bell tower is visible from everywhere in the town, useful as a bearing in the lanes, where you lose your sense of direction at once.
Palazzo Alemanni, Piazza San Donato, 01022 Civita di Bagnoregio (VT)
it is on the second floor of Palazzo Alemanni and explains the erosion that threatens the stability of the crag: a cap of tufa resting on soft clays, water cutting into them, the calanchi advancing a little every year. It is the explanation of the nickname, and worth the half hour it takes. Ask for opening times and price by telephone, and do it: the sources disagree. The company that sells the bridge ticket gives it as 3 euros, open every day from 9 to 17; other sources say 8 euros and, from September to May, Friday to Sunday only. With three different answers, the right one comes from a phone call.
a maze of stone houses, arches, craft workshops and the outside staircases typical of the Tuscia, called profferli, which climb to the upper floor without going through the house. They take a few minutes to walk and they are the part of the town that changes with every hour: at eight they are empty, at midday you file through them, at five they are empty again.
an old Etruscan chamber tomb, cut into the tufa wall below the town and turned in the Middle Ages into a place of prayer and a hermitage. It carries the name of the saint who was born at Bagnoregio. We did not record its exact position: the stop is in the page but not yet on the map.
8
The Giardino del Poeta
Viewpoint · free entry · 42.62852, 12.11577
at the eastern tip of the town, where Civita ends and the valley of the calanchi opens in every direction. It is a kept green space looking straight out over the void: from here the shape of the crag makes more sense than from anywhere else, with the pale tufa, the clay ridges and Bagnoregio on the far side with the bridge strung between them.
Twice a year the donkeys race in the square, and between Christmas and Epiphany the whole village becomes a nativity scene.
Next: Festa delle Cantine · 9-11 Octin 3 days
9-11Oct
Festa delle Cantine
October
in Bagnoregio, at the foot of the bridge, the cellars of the old town open in the evening with local wine, stalls of local produce and music in the squares. In 2026 it is the sixteenth, from 9 to 11 October: cellars open from 18:00, also at lunchtime on Saturday and Sunday, free entry, with tasting tickets sold in Piazza Cavour
in 3 days
6Jun
Palio della Tonna
first Sunday in June and second in September
the districts of Civita race each other on donkeyback around the "tonna", the ring marked out inside the square of San Donato. It is the village's own festival, run twice a year, and the winning district takes home a painted banner and a year of bragging rights
to be confirmed6 Jun · 12 Sep
This year's dates are not out yet
Living nativity
between 26 December and Epiphany
the village turns into a stage set: the Arab souk, the Roman castrum, the court of Herod, craftsmen at work, shepherds and the nativity, with the people of Bagnoregio playing the parts. It runs on selected days between Christmas and 6 January, in the late afternoon
Civit'Arte
July
a season of recitals, talks and performances in the squares of Civita, closer to philosophy than to theatre: in 2026 it was called "Tra la bellezza e il pensare" and ran from 6 to 27 July
Remember
Useful tips
In hot weather go early in the morning or late in the afternoon: there is no shade on the bridge and it climbs all the way, the last stretch steeply
The town is paved unevenly and has steps: it is hard going for anyone who walks with difficulty, and a wheelchair will not get everywhere
The bridge ticket is 5 euros and covers entry to the town: rates change over time, so before you set off it is worth a look at the Bagnoregio town council website
Half a day is enough for the town; the time left over is well spent on the viewpoints at Lubriano, on the other side of the valley, from which you photograph the whole of Civita
Both stops are outside Bagnoregio and you choose by what you need: Lubriano has the services and a shuttle you pay separately, Trucinano is closer to the bridge but has nothing at all
Civita di Bagnoregio · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil for the dough
60 g of black truffle
2 cloves of garlic
2 anchovy fillets in oil
6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
Method
mix the two flours with the salt, make a well and pour the oil and the warm water into the middle a little at a time
knead for ten minutes, until the dough is firm and smooth, then cover it and let it rest for half an hour
roll out a sheet half a centimetre thick and cut it into strips a finger wide
roll each strip under your open hands, working from the middle outwards, into a long uneven string: piciarelli are not meant to come out alike, that is their mark
dust them with semolina and spread them on a tray without letting them touch
brush the truffle clean under a trickle of water, dry it and grate two thirds of it, keeping the rest for the end
in a small pan warm the oil with the crushed garlic and the anchovies over the lowest flame, until the anchovies melt, then take the garlic out
turn off the heat and stir in the grated truffle: truffle is not cooked, it is warmed, or it loses everything
boil the piciarelli in salted water for four or five minutes, until they come to the surface
drain them keeping a ladle of the cooking water, tip them into the pan and toss them off the heat with a little of that water
serve with the truffle you kept back grated over the top and a turn of pepper
the footbridge climbing towards Civita, with the town on top of the cragthe tufa crag and the houses resting on the walls, from the last stretch of the climbthe double arched passage cut into the tufa, opening onto a courtyard with an ivy covered housethe open space in front of the inn, with the menu blackboard and the tufa housesthe lane climbing towards the bell tower, with flower pots hung on the wallsthe arch with hanging plants and postcards for sale, just inside the gatethe open space with its arches and shops, on a summer morningthe paved lane with tables outside, in the late afternoona window cut into the tufa, with a terracotta sill, opening onto the valleythe calanchi seen through an ivy covered arch, with flowers on the sillthe valley of the calanchi against the light, with the sun low over the ridgethe ivy covered tufa wall below Porta di Santa Maria, on the way back
