Civita di Bagnoregio – An Endangered Town

Founded over 2,500 years ago, the town of Civita di Bagnoregio is now an endangered town. Through the course of the 20th-century, the town’s population has dwindled, with few residents left in the town, making it, for all intent and purposes – a ghost town.

Despite its stunning views and robust medieval masonry, the town’s location proved to be disastrous. Local earthquakes and land erosion turned the town into an island throughout the 17th-century, and the locals started referring to it as il paese che muore (“the town that is dying”).

The cliffside-erosion caused several buildings to collapse down the hill, prompting many families to leave. By the year 2000, the town’s population was a mere six people.

Thanks to a recent revival, prompted by a tourism boom, the population doubled, with 12 residents living there during the winter and almost 100 during the summer months.