Italian clifftop village accessible only by footbridge proposed for Unesco recognition

Civita di Bagnoregio lies in the region of Lazio, north of Rome

Credit: Getty

A tiny medieval village that perches on top of a volcanic outcrop and can only be reached by a narrow footbridge spanning a ravine is to be proposed by Italy for World Heritage recognition.

Civita di Bagnoregio, which was founded by the Etruscans 2,500 years ago, will be put forward for the honour by Italy’s national UNESCO committee.

The hamlet, wedged on top of a plug of tufa rock and surrounded by deep canyons, has a permanent population of around 10 people.

Decades ago, it was in danger of being abandoned altogether but became a popular bolthole for artists and intellectuals from Rome, 70 miles to the south.

Civita di Bagnoregio is perfectly preserved and has a population of around 10

Credit: Chris Warde-Jones/Telegraph

It has become a popular tourist destination and before the pandemic attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, many of them from East Asia.

They were drawn to the village because it is believed to have inspired an ethereal floating town in a cult animated film, Laputa – Castle in the Sky, made by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki.

Morning mist often fills the canyons surrounding Civita di Bagnoregio, meaning that it looks as though it is floating in mid-air.

Luca Profili, the mayor of the village, said the proposal to request World Heritage recognition had been a long time in the planning. “The project was born six years ago,” he said, adding that a decision by UNESCO is expected next year.

The hamlet perches on crumbling cliffs of tufa

Credit: Getty

World Heritage recognition would bring funds that could be used to stop the steady erosion of the cliffs on which the hamlet is built. Tufa is a soft volcanic rock that crumbles easily under the effects of rain and frost.

“Civita di Bagnoregio is a symbol of villages that resist the effects of abandonment and depopulation and that manage to renew themselves thanks to art and beauty,” said Bruno Astorre, a senator for the surrounding region of Lazio and a member of the governing Democratic Party.

The current boom in smart working, prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, could benefit hundreds of similar semi-abandoned Italian villages.

“People are moving back into small villages and that helps alleviate crowding in the big cities,” said Adriano La Regina, a former director of the National Institute of Archeology and Art History. “Technological innovations and distance working could help preserve these places.”

Civita di Bagnoregio went into serious decline from about the 16th century, with many houses simply toppling off the edge of the cliffs into the gorge below.

Earthquakes accelerated the damage, earning it the name “Il paese che muore" – the dying village.