Bagnoregio, Viterbo, Italy

A Town Divided

In Bagnoregio there is a small town spread across a hillside. This town is a pleasant rather than a notable town, tucked into the midst of rural central Italian countryside. At the east end of Bagnoregio the houses become more scattered and the road comes to an end. A valley fallls away below the hillside, and across this narrow valley there rises an isolated knoll with steep drops into a ravine on all sides.

Civita de Bagnoregio

This knoll is tall and narrow - rising well above the surrounding countryside in every direction. On the very top of this craggy knoll a walled village perches precariously  -  its houses pressed together on the needlepoint of this small mountain. This is the village of Civita di  Bagnoregio - a compressed cluster of a village, magnificent in its isolation.


There are no roads leading up to Civita, - just a thin causeway on piers, rising dramatically upwards as it stretches across the valley and ascends the rocky cliff face. Visitors and villagers alike, take this path up to the church and tiny village clustered behind stone walls.

Expansive Views on All Sides

From Civita di Bagnoregio the views stretch out in every direction across the rugged chasms, peaks and valleys below. Civita was once joined on to the main part of the village of Bagnoregio as an elongated hilltop plateau town. As time passed, landslides, earthquakes and erosion caused parts of this plateau to drop away leaving the pinnacle where Civita now sits, all alone. Today the battle against the earth's forces continues, as locals strive to prevent more of the small plateau slipping away into the deep chasms below.

A beautifully preserved walled village

Only a handful of villagers still reside permanently on the mountain top. The visitors come and go, fascinated by this perfectly preserved town, saved from modernisation by the blessing and the curse of its glorious isolation. Civita di Bagnoregio - unique, lonely and splendid, but forever quarantined from the town it was once a part of.

Civita's Causeway Access

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Bracciano, Italy

Welcome to the Hilltop Towns

Stepping into the winding streets of Bracciano is stepping into the heart of Italy. This is a town of aged buildings, narrow cobbled lanes, copper street lanterns. It is a town of small traders, of street cafes, and tiny bars. It is a town where people walk on the roadways and the cars are secondary. This is a town where the pace of the day is dictated by the rising and the setting of the sun, and the mood of the night is set by the moonlight.

A Quiet Backstreet Courtyard in Bracciano

The town is dominated by a towering medieval castle at the top of a hill surrounded by layer upon layer of feudal housing cascading down this hillside. This is the housing where the servants and serfs once lived in centuries gone by.  From the outside these houses are still much as they were when built all those centuries ago. Now however,  you will find modern comfortable homes folded within and hidden by those thick stone walls . This medieval quarter of twisting turning lanes, and homes full of character has become a much sought after place to live now, even though not so long ago it was the newer part of Bracciano just across the valley which locals aspired to belong to.

Bracciano's Castle

Bracciano is not known as a tourist town even though it is in many ways a picture-perfect village. Situated only 40 minutes by train from Rome it is essentially a commuter town for many of the locals. However on its hilltop overlooking a lake with views stretching for many miles out across the Italian countryside it is far from the humdrum suburban dreariness of a typical commuter town.
By day a handful of tourists do come to Bracciano. A tour bus pulls into the courtyard below the castle  from time to time. By night the narrow streets of Bracciano pulse with life as folk come out to dine and to chat. Later the streets fill with those out enjoying the Passeggiata  - that most Italian of rituals -  as they pass  by on their endless evening stroll through the chosen streets and paths of the town. Late into the night this street life continues on. Just a typical balmy Italian Tuesday night.

A warm summer evening at a sidewalk cafe

Bracciano is on a main train route into Rome and is a great base for exploration.


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pippy.mccurdy@gmail.com

Walking the Streets of Rome

 You Don't Need a Tour Guide

The great city of Rome is a vast and complex maze of streets woven through a oh so many world-renowned landmarks and structures. At best current guess Rome is around two and a half thousand years old. This makes it one of the oldest continually inhabited urban centres in the whole of Europe. As the city grew and changed over the centuries new replaced old, but remarkably much of the old remained by being built over, into and around.

Ponte Sant Angelo

Walk around Rome with your guide map and you will wend your way from one famous point to the next. However what is truly fascinating about Rome is the multitude of other structures and ruins - clearly historical - which you will see as well. More often than not, these will be unmentioned on your map - there are simply too many to give detail about each and every one.  On the skyline domes, towers and palaces emerge above surrounding buildings.  Occasionally you will come across a fenced off area and an archaeological dig. The recovery of Rome’s history is an ongoing task which continues on with no possible end date in site.

The one constant in the ever-growing city of Rome is the beautiful River Tiber which arcs its way through the city carving it into its parts. On the West bank is the Vatican City and the huge and imposing Castel de Sant'Angelo. Once a magnificent mausoleum  - a tomb for the emperor Hadrian and his family, -  it has since been a castle, a fort, a prison, and now a museum.

Castel Sant'Angelo

The vibrant and historic Trastevere district is also on the west of the river, and it is to the Trastevere that Romans and visitors alike go to eat, to drink and to play. The cafes and bars of the Trastevere spill out onto the cobbled streets and hum with life into the night. On the east of the Tiber is the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum -  the heart of the original city.

There are many bridges to choose from to cross the Tiber, - some of great age in themselves. The ancient arched stone bridges Ponte Sant'Angelo and Ponte Milvio have provided access across the Tiber for close to a millennium surviving erosion, floods, wars, and  invaders. Yet still they stand.

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www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand Blog of unique places to stay)

Rome For Travellers

Are You a Tourist or a Traveller?

The vast city of Rome, wrapped in a cloak of antiquity and shaped around the renowned river Tiber, is a city which throbs with people. On trains, busses, cars, and planes, the daily influx pours into Rome. Rome is a hub and an axis for the whole of Italy. Centrally placed in the country, international visitors arrive in Rome whether their destination is the north to Tuscany and on to the lakes and the mountains, or whether they head south to the famed Amalfi Coast and the azure seas of the Mediterranean.

The Roman Forum

But it is not just tourists and workers who pour into Rome; - it is native Italians also. Italians come to Rome to see for themselves the history and the culture of this ancient city. For not only is Rome a hub, Rome is also a destination in itself - perhaps one of the most famous tourist destinations on earth.  The magnificent structures of the past, so well preserved, so well known, draw tourists and travelers from every country of the world, and from the far corners of Italy,  - all coming to experience the city of Rome and its famous and historic structures.

Castel Sant Angelo

 The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps - all so well known, so familiar from tv, from movies, from computer - from Wikipedia… This is a city of history where around every corner and on every horizon there is another towering dome, another ancient church, a two thousand year old wall, a colonnade of crumbling columns as tall as a four storey building.

Galleria Alberto Sordi

Everywhere tourists pour over small maps, peer at cell phone screens, follow flag waving tour guides. But this  microcosm of antiquity in the centre of Rome is so concentrated that a  map is scarcely necessary. Every corner, every street and every piazza holds another ancient edifice to experience and admire.

Ponte Sant Angelo

If the tourist hubbub is not for you, turn off from the main pathways and take a side street. There will always be something new to discover. Or stop for a while at a street-walk cafe and take the time to people-watch over a glass of wine or a bite to eat. Breathe in the air of Rome. Become one with Rome. Fall in love with Rome - as so many others have done before and will do again.

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www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand Blog of unique places to stay)

Italy Off the Beaten track

Italy - On Your Own Terms

Bracciano

Perhaps the greatest thing about travel in Europe is that it can be unplanned. Unless you choose to travel in the height of the European summer you will never need to book ahead. The accommodation options are limitless. Or in the summer months, pick up a car and a tent, or pick up a campavan. The numerous excellent camping grounds are never too packed for one more site to be found. Think of camping grounds in Europe as casual roll-up hotels. Factor in swimming pools, bars, restaurants, bakeries,  … these are not the stark camping grounds of Australasia, - if you happen to be from the Pacific rim.

Once you have freed yourself from the encumberances of having to book ahead, all sorts of opportunities open up. The small beach, the side road, the tiny village - now you can stop there. You will no longer have that weight on your shoulders of having to get from point A to point B before the front desk closes. You will not be confined to the popular tourist spots where the major hotel chains cluster. You are a free agent, able to explore a beautiful country at your leisure.

For the best travel methods, think flexibility. Least flexible is certainly any type of package tour. Depending on your selection you may have a free day here and there. Lucky you! Should you choose a cruise you have a multitude of coast to traverse on the elongated Italian isthmus. There will be onshore visits to take in the sights, and there will be nights aboard ship. Times's up. Back to the ship. On land there is train or bus. Both offer the hop on hop off option but you will be travelling major town to major town. You will need to  accommodation near to the bus/train station.


Don't be afraid - do it on your own terms! Why not hire a car?  Now you have your own pace and your own timetable to enjoy. For an even more intimate view of the small towns and village life, think of a cycle or walking  tour. The area you cover will certainly be smaller, but the chance to mix and mingle with locals will be incomparable. Take no notice of those who would scare you away from this option. It is easy. You can do it. Give yourself two hours to get used to the driving if you are from a left hand driving country. Follow the person in front. You will be fine.  Just do it!

Gubbio, Italy

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www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand Blog of unique places to stay)