Civita di Bagnoregio

Civita di Bagnoregio is a small Etruscan and medieval hill town in the Lazio region of central Italy, perched on an isolated plateau of eroding volcanic tufo above the Calanchi — a landscape of deeply eroded clay ravines that create a moonscape of ridges, gullies, and standing tufo columns surrounding the settlement on all sides. The town is accessible only by a 300-metre pedestrian bridge (rebuilt in concrete in 1965 after a wooden predecessor) that connects it to the modern town of Bagnoregio on the main road. The permanent population of Civita has dwindled to fewer than 20 year-round residents, earning it the name 'La Città Che Muore' — the Dying Town — as erosion and emigration have together diminished both the population and the physical fabric of the settlement since the Middle Ages. The dramatic isolation and well-preserved medieval streetscape of tufo stone buildings, flowering window boxes, and Romanesque Santa Maria Assunta church have made Civita a popular photography destination and the inspiration for the fictional town of Radiator Springs in the Pixar film 'Cars.' A small entry fee is charged to cross the bridge and enter the town. The town interior rewards an hour of exploration: the Church of San Donato contains carved Etruscan sarcophagi fragments; the cave cellars beneath the houses were used for wine and olive oil storage by Etruscan settlers; and the viewpoints at the cliff edges offer vertiginous looks down into the Calanchi ravines. The most dramatic perspectives on the town are from the viewpoints in Bagnoregio itself or from the road approaching on the Lubriano side to the west.