Civita di Bagnoregio Italy Starting the Climb Up

While staying in Orvieto Italy in 2009 we took a bus to The Civita di Bagnoregio. I gathered this image from the bottom of the bridge leading up to the Civita. ...
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While staying in Orvieto Italy in 2009 we took a bus to The Civita di Bagnoregio. I gathered this image from the bottom of the bridge leading up to the Civita. In historic times there were only ladders to climb to reach the hilltop town. The ladders were raised and lowered in times of unrest and war. Civita di Bagnoregio was founded by the Etruscans more than 2,500 years ago. The Civita (or City) was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventure, who died in 1274. The location of his boyhood house has long since fallen off the edge of the cliff. The town is noted for its striking position on top of a plateau of friable volcanic tuff overlooking the Tiber river valley. It is in constant danger of destruction as the edges of the plateau collapse due to erosion, leaving the buildings to crumble as their underlying support falls away. The city is also much admired for its architecture spanning several hundred years. Civita di Bagnoregio owes much of its unaltered condition to its relative isolation; the town was able to withstand most intrusions of modernity as well as the destruction brought by two world wars.
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