~civita di bagnoregio~

June 26th, 2009

We drove down to Umbria, to Civita di Bagnoregio, aka il paese che muore (the dying town). It is perched on a bit of volcanic ash which regularly crumbles, dropping buildings into Tiber river valley.

click to expand.

The current population is 12. The modernish town of Bagnoregio (two images above) links Etruscan Cività to the rest of Italy by a mile-long donkey path.

The interior of Romanesque San Donato Church is quite musty and the incredible icons, including a 15th-Century wooden Crucifix by the school of Donatello, are displayed in a warehouse-y jumble.

On the afternoon we were there, there was a tremendous thunderstorm followed by a raucous wedding.