Urbino, the Marché District, Northern Italy

Urbino - The University Town

The once great city of Urbino remains a cornerstone of the Marché in north eastern Italy. Still important in its own right as a center of learning, its significant past is preserved in the history of those imposing ancient buildings which guard the footpaths. The palaces of Urbino are dignified and impressive. Their grey stone walls create a fortified frontage to the streets. They are buildings which express power rather than exuberance and demand respect rather than delight.

Urbino - like many of the great Italian walled cities - was planned to repel invaders and to be defended and defensible. The centuries provide a chronicle of many attacks, - some successfully resisted and some succumbed to. It is the history built into these stern walls which is recognised in Urbino’s status as a World Heritage Site.


From early in the twentieth century Urbino began to grow as a centre of learning, and today it is still known chiefly as a university town. The quiet streets in the early morning attest to its seasonal student population. With an emphasis on study and learning even to this day, the large historic buildings have been able to be put to good use and preserved. Glimpses of modern facilities within historic walls can be seen from the streets. The occasional cafe or picturesque craft shop also spills out from a palazzo here and there to add a splash of life and colour to what could otherwise be a stern streetscape.

Close to Urbino is the Fortress Sassocorvaro  -  an almost windowless castle with high rounded protective walls. The Fortress earned its fame as L’Arca del Arte - the Arc of Art. It is here that many of Italy’s great works of art were secreted during the Second World War, to protect and save them from the desecration of the Nazi war machine as it swept through Italy during the later stages of the war. Up to 10,000 works of art were saved in this way, including works by Bellini and Raphael.

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Pavia, Lombardy

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Bridging the Way

In a country steeped in history the small city of Pavia has a past which stretches back through the ages to ancient times. The seat of Italian kings, the site of Italian wars and struggles, Pavia has been there through it all. The handsome covered bridge across the river Ticino in Pavia is still relatively speaking, very new. But out of respect for the bridge which stood on this site previously, it is a replica of what has gone before.

Ponte Coperto

The Ponte Coperto or covered bridge, was built in 1951. But the bridge which it replaces and replicates, is the Ponte Vecchio or Old Bridge, which has spanned across the river linking the Borgo Ticino with the historic centre of the town since the fourteenth century. Surviving the ravages of floods and the trials of age it stood strong. But it was no match for the bombs of World War II.
The rich medieval past of Pavia and its role in Italian history,  has meant that even though many buildings of great historic significance may have been lost, sheer numbers ensure that many still stand today. The dome of Pavia’s cathedral is one of the largest in Italy. Pavia’s palace complex is imposing. Its castle and clock tower are monuments of elegant brickwork. Its museum, universities and churches are substantial and formidable.

Brickwork Arches

The Ponte Coperto with its open arches and graceful roof is, on the other hand, elegant and light. The sky reflects its many moods through the bridge and onto the slow-flowing river below. Pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles mingle on the bridge with none holding sway over the other. The slow pace of modern day Pavia is echoed in its charming bridge which has become a symbol of all that Pavia has gone through over the centuries.

The Covered Walkway

Camping Ticino
A great base for day-trips to Milan
On the main train line
Pleasant camping, reasonable facilities

Pisa - Not Just a Tower

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Pisa and the Piazza dei Miracoli

As everyone knows, there is a strange tower leaning just a little sideways in the historic north Italian town of  Pisa. But what is perhaps not so well known, is that there is so much more to this beautiful town than one leaning tower. To begin with, the tower is just one element in a breath-taking cluster of buildings whose charms are multiple and whose decorations are as delicate as spun sugar.

The Cathedral of Pisa

These buildings stand in a vast precinct of historical buildings, its lawns clad in rich green grass.  This is the Piazza dei Miracoli.  Here you will find  Pisa's cathedral, the perfectly formed cupola of the baptistry and the oh-so-famous tower. The light coloured marble walls of these famous buildings against a perfectly green carpet of manicured grass, make them stand out in sharp relief like so many sculpted works of art.

The River Arno

This whole medieval complex, known as the Square of Miracles, is the heart of Pisa and the source of its thriving tourist trade .There is however, much more to see in Pisa. The town itself  is stretched along the banks of the wide and slow-flowing River Arno, with its colourful houses twisting along the banks on either side. The city itself is a lively and popular university town, but more than anything else it is the history which brings people to Pisa.

The wonderful Santa Maria Della Spina is perched on the left bank of the river - lifted to its higher perch from a previous position closer to the water - which can at times rise to flood level. This is a church with an intricately carved white marble facade: just a small Gothic church but so ornate with its jagged spires reaching up to create a ragged skyline.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

This church is particularly eye-catching, standing as it does among simple terraced housing. Buildings dedicated to worship are scattered unexpectedly throughout Pisa like so many architectural gems rich in their wedding cake decoration, - all deserving of time attention and admiration. There is so much more to stumble upon in Pisa than just one very beautiful tower …

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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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