Europe’s ‘dying city’ slowly sinking into the valley that’s like stepping into the 1500s

While Venice introduced a an “dying city” once home to 11 people has been brought back to life by visitors.

Earning its nickname for sitting atop a crumbling rock, Civita di Bagnoregio’s potential for disappearance entices tourists who want to catch a glimpse of a medieval city while it still stands.

For €3 per person on weekdays and €5 on weekends and public holidays, visitors can scale the precarious footbridge to enter the tiny settlement just two hours from Rome, founded by the Etruscans more than 2,500 years ago. 

The city has been preserved in a medieval cloak after an earthquake in 1965 spurred a mass exodus as the city started to fall into the valley below, leaving few residents and little need to modernise.

The mayor made a bold decision to introduce a to fund preservation of its remaining buildings and to hold back the tides of erosion into the Valle dei Calanchi below. 

The initiative has delivered tenfold, meaning residents of both Civita and Bagnoregio no longer have to pay communal taxes, and it’s been used as an example of successful marketing. 

Mayor Francesco Bigiotti said: “Bagnoregio is the only Italian town where you no longer pay communal taxes. We’ve been able to improve local services – the health service is better, there is transport for disabled people.

“We’re managing to live autonomously thanks to tourism and culture. Really, it’s a miracle.”

Aside from its nickname as “the dying city” it’s more favourably been declared a “Borgho più bello d’Italia” (one of Italy’s most beautiful towns). 

Its social calendar is filled with traditional festivals and there are plenty of restaurants among flower-filled piazzas to soak up the stunning views of the valley. 

Visitors can stay in the city itself, but a day trip is sufficient.

Day trips run from Rome, and it can be reached by car from the city of Orvieto, just a 30 minute drive away.