Civita di Bagnoregio, which bills itself today as "the dying city," is a small medieval town with a stable year-round population of 25, exploding to more than 300 during the summer months.

It is neither its size nor its age which makes it so special... it is its actual physical location, perched on the pinnacle of a narrow, pointed plateau (1,440 ft. above sea level), which has been steadily eroding away over the centuries, and every time another piece of the ancient plateau plummets into the surrounding valley, another bit of this evocative city risks to disappear with it!

The site of an Etruscan settlement already almost 3,000 years ago, in a unique location easily defended from marauding armies, Civita suffered greatly from a seemingly endless series of earthquakes starting in the late 17 th century (more than ten of them over a sixty year period). During this period, many of its citizens moved across the valley to the "mainland," creating the more modern town of Bagnoregio... but a few have refused to leave, even today.