Impossible Towns in Impossible Places

Civita di Bagno Regio

Simple houses, churches, palaces cling with a barnacle’s grip to bare rock. The colors are all the same shade- they pull materials from centuries-old quarries that have served the Italians, Romans, as far back as the Etruscans.

Civita di Bagno Regio is almost laughable in its ridiculous predicament. Built on a disintegrating sandstone mesa, the town loses its outer rings over the course of centuries like an umber-shaded onion. Of course it will eventually meld into the valley below, but for the visitor today, it gives a great unvarnished glimpse of medieval hilltown character. A narrow arête of a ridge once connected the town to the adjacent bluff where you leave your car. But this too had melted away. A footbridge had been installed and the climb to the lofty old town is difficult, but well worth it.

Inside the Main Gate

The views are spectacular, of course. We as 21st century travelers appreciate them, but our context in appreciating these hill towns are far from those who first set up these aeries in the distant past. Central Italy has always been awash with invaders, marauding barbarians, warring factional states. So it was a defensive reaction to gather up on top and hunker down when Hannibal, Charles V or the Florentines came down your way and not just to have beautiful views into the countryside. It was prudent and economical to build densely on rock outcrops to minimize the amount of defensive walls and not to create picturesque urban scenery.

Stoop

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Orvieto is a far different feel from Civita. It is actually a more ancient city that was important 2,500 years ago for the Etruscans. It sits on a thousand foot high volcanic plug with sheer cliffs all around. But it is still a lively, bustling community with it's main attraction being a striking Gothic façade unlike anything in Northern Europe.

The Cathedral of Orvieto

Gothic ecclesiastic architecture never really gained favor in Italy; the most true example being the Cathedral in Milan. The 14th century Orvieto façade is an Italian version of that dour, somber Northern European style. The façade shimmers with polychromic marbles, gold and bright colored mosaics all set in a stark white marble framework. It is overdone, overdecorated, overstimulating: Italian gothic?... bring on the Renaissance.