Across the Bridge

Civita presents itself without warning, no matter how first approached. The town sits alone, perched on a small outcrop of volcanic stone like an island surrounded by a vast eroded valley. Proceeding south from Orvieto (15 kilometers away), on the edge of Umbria, you can see that Civita is a smaller version of that better-known hill town, but set within a unique and dramatic landscape. Coming north from Rome (about 100 kilometers away), a flat plain suddenly gives way for the almost crater-like valley within which Civita sits. 

After the first tantalizing glimpse of Civita, it becomes hidden, as we proceed through the town of Bagnoregio, built along a peninsula jutting out towards Civita. At the end of the peninsula the street stops abruptly at a belvedere, presenting a spectacular view of the hill town rising out of the valley. In the far distance, beyond the Tiber River valley, acting as backdrop to the town, rise the Apennine Mountains. Civita appears to be completely isolated, until we notice the narrow, steep modern bridge leading up to the town's arched entry way. To reach the bridge, we walk down steps constructed along a cliff face, or drive down to the parking lot at the base of the bridge.

When the town was first founded, at least 2,500 years ago, it was not quite as difficult to reach. It was, however, an easily defended position. This urban site has been continuously inhabited ever since the Etruscans. In Roman times Civita perched on a narrow ridge, connected by means of a fairly straight paved road with the Tiber River valley to the east and the Roman via Cassia (still a major highway) near Lake Bolsena to the west. Over the centuries the valley around the town deepened due to gradual erosion of the underlying soft volcanic stone, lowering the level of the road as well. 

Little is known about the settlement in the period immediately after the disintegration of the Roman Empire, but life probably continued as usual, interrupted by occasional wars and invaders. In the late Middle Ages (eleventh to thirteenth centuries) Civita was at its peak, an independent city state controlling the immediately surrounding territory, with a population of perhaps five or six hundred. The most important historic event to occur in Civita was the birth of St. Bonaventure, in 1274. The location of his boyhood house is known, but it has long since fallen off the edge of the cliff. By the sixteenth century Civita was beginning to decline, becoming eclipsed by Bagnoregio, once just a suburb of Civita. 

A major earthquake at the end of the seventeenth century accelerated this trend, forcing the bishop and the municipal government to move to Bagnoregio. By this time the area was part of the Papal States, controlled by Rome. In the nineteenth century the pace of the erosion quickened as the layer of clay below the stone was reached in the area where today's bridge is located, turning Civita's location into an island. Bagnoregio continued as a small but prosperous town, while Civita became known as "il paese che muore" or the dying town. The last few decades have shown the town's unwillingness to die, but life in Civita has undergone more radical changes in a shorter time than ever before in its long history.

Civita is set within a landscape formed by the eruption of nearby volcanoes in prehistoric times, and continually transformed since then by the forces of wind and water. Tufo, or tuff, the soft volcanic stone that dominates both the built and natural environment in this region, is formed from air-born volcanic particles that settled some distance from the volcanic cone. This tufo, in several layers due to differing eruptions, covered a layer of clay created in earlier geological times from ocean sediment. Also found very close to Civita are other volcanic products important as building materials over the centuries: a hard grey stone from flowing lava, known as basaltina, and the natural cement known as pozzolana. From the clay roof tiles to the tufo walls, the built form of the town is literally derived from the landscape.

The base of the bridge was once the market area for Civita, and is still known as Mercatello, or little market. The marketplace, which was bustling in the Middle Ages, was below and to the side of the main road. As erorsion lowered the land bridge, it became necessary to pass through Mercatello to reach Civita. An arched stone bridge was constructed in the 1920's to connect Civita and Mercatello, but it was damaged during World War II. This precariously patched bridge continued in use until it was replaced in 1965 by the current modern concrete footbridge. Today's bridge provides the only link with the outside world, but also keeps out cars and has slowed the introduction of modern innovations. The only other approach to Civita is a steep footpath from fields in the valley.

Although this part of Italy is filled with many picturesque towns on hill tops, the bridge sets Civita apart. The bridge is both connector and barrier. The present bridge is an essential life-line for the town. It has acted as a filter to slow down the intrusion of modern life, but except for cars, has not been able to provide a complete barrier. 

At Mercatello today we see hegroups of tourists purchasing tickets to enter the town. This small admission fee was started a few years as the number of tourists began to overwhelm the town, requiring funds to improve services and infrastructure. 

Today we arrive loaded down with suitcases.Twenty years ago we would have passed our neighbor Peppone leading mules loaded with traditional building materials, but today the local government provides tractor service (for a fee) to the residents needing to transport heavy or large materials, including suitcases..

From the bridge we survey the eroded valley, checking to see if the erosion has increased since our last visit. Away from the bridge, fields are still cultivated, with grape vines and olive trees that have provided the staples of life in Civita throughout the millennia. Only far in the distance, to the east, do we see the extremely eroded, uncultivated hills that give the valley a barren appearance from the belvedere.

Walking up the bridge, we pass people we know, both townspeople and vacation-house owners, as well as strangers, tourists from several countries. Today Civita is visited by large numbers of tourists, mostly Italians, particularly on weekends in the spring and fall. They are there mostly from late morning until late afternoon, and the rest of the time Civita is almost deserted and very quiet and peaceful.

The path widens and changes in characer as we reach the point where the bridge attaches to the rock of the hill. A brief section of old road zigzags up to the gate through which we will enter the town. 

The effort required to enter the town sets it apart as special. It is not like towns that can be easily driven through, in spite of similar long histories of continuous habitation. The bridge not only preserves the town itself in a largely medieval form, but forces us to make a break with the present, to enter not just an isolated

place but an isolated time. And yet the nature of this isolation is rapidly changing, the the sense of entering the past may just be an illusion after all.