I had heard about this obscure Umbrian hilltown,
Civita through my university's study abroad program. Unfortunately the program had been retired a year before I was eligible, but I was determined to seek out this little off-the-beaten-path corner of Italy. My sister and I based ourselves in Orvieto, and went through a challenging ordeal to find Civita. We asked many a local on how to find this seemingly
mysterious town. After many blank looks and shrugged shoulders we got some sort of answer in broken Italian. Following this stranger's advice, we uncertainly boarded a bus to Bagnoregio, supposedly nearby. We were two of three people on this enormous blue bus, and definitely the only ones who spoke English. With a hope and a prayer, we stayed on board for about an hour, driving through gorgeous rolling hills of vineyards and fields of sunflowers. Once off the bus we followed handwritten signs toward Civita. One sign read "Il Paese Che Muore," which we later found out to mean "the dying village," referring to Civita's dwindling population of 15 year-round residents. We followed these signs through Bagnoregio's dusty streets until we came upon a fantastic clearing - and there it was! The plateau of Civita rises above a sweeping valley. The town is charmingly medieval in every way, its only connection to the modern world is accessibility to Bagnoregio via a steel footbridge. Standing on the bluff overlooking Civita was both exciting and exhilarating. Once across the footbridge, it was like stepping back in time. Almost all of the architecture is carved from the stony earth. The sleepy town was almost completely deserted, even at midday on a warm, summer afternoon. Everything about Civita hearkened back to medieval primitivism, one church, one B&B, one tiny cafe. There seemed to be amazing views from every vantage point, of the valley below and beyond. Civita seemed like a pocket of Ita
ly that had defied modernity, everything about the town felt so untouched, It was truly rewarding - not only to finally find it after all that, but I felt like we got to experience Italy the way Italy was meant to be seen. Finding this corner of the Umbrian countryside definitely satisfied our appetites for discovery.
I had heard about this obscure Umbrian hilltown, Civita through my university's study abroad program. Unfortunately the program had been retired a year before I was eligible, but I was determined to seek out this little off-the-beaten-path corner of Italy. My sister and I based ourselves in Orvieto, and went through a challenging ordeal to find Civita. We asked many a local on how to find this seemingly mysterious town. After many blank looks and shrugged shoulders we got some sort of answer in broken Italian. Following this stranger's advice, we uncertainly boarded a bus to Bagnoregio, supposedly nearby. We were two of three people on this enormous blue bus, and definitely the only ones who spoke English. With a hope and a prayer, we stayed on board for about an hour, driving through gorgeous rolling hills of vineyards and fields of sunflowers. Once off the bus we followed handwritten signs toward Civita. One sign read "Il Paese Che Muore," which we later found out to mean "the dying village," referring to Civita's dwindling population of 15 year-round residents. We followed these signs through Bagnoregio's dusty streets until we came upon a fantastic clearing - and there it was! The plateau of Civita rises above a sweeping valley. The town is charmingly medieval in every way, its only connection to the modern world is accessibility to Bagnoregio via a steel footbridge. Standing on the bluff overlooking Civita was both exciting and exhilarating. Once across the footbridge, it was like stepping back in time. Almost all of the architecture is carved from the stony earth. The sleepy town was almost completely deserted, even at midday on a warm, summer afternoon. Everything about Civita hearkened back to medieval primitivism, one church, one B&B, one tiny cafe. There seemed to be amazing views from every vantage point, of the valley below and beyond. Civita seemed like a pocket of Ita
ly that had defied modernity, everything about the town felt so untouched, It was truly rewarding - not only to finally find it after all that, but I felt like we got to experience Italy the way Italy was meant to be seen. Finding this corner of the Umbrian countryside definitely satisfied our appetites for discovery.
No comments:
Post a Comment