Monday, December 27, 2021

Civita di Bagnoregio

Civita di Bagnoregio caught our attention on a Windows Spotlight screensaver a few years ago.

Rick Steeves has written that Civita di Bagnoregio is his "favorite of all the Italian hill towns."

The clouds surrounding Civita di Bagnoregio added to its intruiging appearance on our morning arrival.

We arranged our half-day trip to Civita di Bagnoregio via Rome Italy Explora.

They provided a driver and a tour guide (Rossana) and picked us up at our hotel in Rome and drove us to Bagnoregio.

Tickets must be purchased to walk up the bridge to Civita di Bagnoregio.

We started the hike up the short pedestrian bridge and into the clouds.

Walking this modern, well-kept pedestrian bridge is definitely part of the intrigue of Civita di Bagnoregio.

There are views back down the bridge from near its top.

This is the view of where we came from just before entering the walled town.

The next two photographs show the doorway into the walled town and the view from just inside that doorway.

There are photogenic views all over the place in Civita di Bagnoregio.

The San Donato Church is a pretty, simple church in the main square.

The views of Civita di Bagnoregio and the views from are impressive.

The bridge to Civita di Bagnoregio is generally for pedestrians only, but there are small vehicles that use the bridge to take supplies to and from the hill town.

Civita di Bagnoregio is a charming town that offered welcome solitude and tranquility on the quiet morning we visited after a couple days in busier Rome.

I've read that Civita di Bagnoregio can get busy, but we probably only saw around ten or so other tourists while we were there.

Civita di Bagnoregio is often called the "dying city" because the hill it's built upon is crumbling at the edges.

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Pisa

We stopped briefly in Pisa as we traveled from Venice to Florence.

There are small kiosks outside the walled area where locals hawk their goods to tourists entering the walled area.

We hadn't realized that the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa shared its walled area with other buildings.

Although not shown here, we couldn't resist taking some of the "classic" tourist photographs of us "holding up the tower to keep it from falling."

It's a beautiful tower anyway and its leaning makes it even more intriguing.

We were only in Pisa for a couple hours, but that was sufficient for us to see the famous landmark.