Bagnoregio, Italy

We woke this morning to find NanNan’s cough had turned into the dreaded Covid-19, so while her and Pops stayed at the villa, the rest of us made an 18-mile drive south out to Bagnoregio. Not before a breakfast stop at Pasticceria Nando, in Orvieto Scalo. Mmmm…breakfast pastries (and a coke. I love being on vacation).

I had found (on the Atlas Obscura website) details about Civita di Bagnoregio, a 2500-year-old town sitting on a plateau just outside the main town. It looks like an island in the badlands, and just seeing something different sounded great.

You park at Bagnoregio and walk through the town. Bagnoregio was originally a suburb of the Civita, but over time became the main town to Civita’s tourism destination. The walk is through another beautiful, thin-street town was less than a mile along Corso G. Mazzini. As it was getting hot already, we didn’t stop to enjoy the Chiesa della SS Annunziata, with its statue of St Bonaventura, or the Auditorium Vittorio Taborra. We stopped only long enough to get photos.

Then the Civita comes into view and it doesn’t look real. Like an elevated island surrounded by a no longer existent ocean. It’s beautiful, and already I’m glad we came out here. We bought tickets to cross the bridge and that’s when my problem began. Not liking heights, I was somewhat uncomfortable thinking about walking across the span. I didn’t get very far before a gust of wind froze me to the spot. I physically couldn’t go further forward. I was so angry with myself. The others went on while I fought with myself. It is no longer a matter of getting across, I couldn’t even turn around and go back. It was so irrational! Eventually I turned around and made it back up to the ticket booth (after about ½ hour arguing with myself about going over). Eventually I texted A, told them to take their time and waited disappointingly for their return. I did walk back down to near the bridge and had lunch at Gelateri Maluba. A prosciutto and cheese quesadilla and coke were a small consolation considering the Civita was the place I most wanted to go in all of the trip.

D, L, B, M & Drew, Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy

B, M & L, Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy

We talked of going to Aquadepente afterwards, but it was midafternoon by the time the others returned, so after walking back through town, we ended up just driving back home, where we all enjoyed the spoils of the pool.

Dinner tonight was salmon cooked over the open fire, but we had dinner at the outside table, where we could also watch the sunset. Talk about amazing! It was just serene and had us all counting our blessings to be where we were.

B, Drew, NanNan, Pops, M & L, Orvieto, Italy

It was still warm, so there was also more swimming to be done after dinner.