Lazio · Viterbo
Bagnoregio
The Etruscan-founded hill town in Tuscia whose frazione Civita di Bagnoregio sits on an eroding tuff plateau, reachable only by footbridge.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Bagnoregio is on our list.
The nearest town with a letter is Montecchio, No. 80, 18 km away.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 25 min from Perugia
- Population
- 3,302
- J9°
- F12°
- M13°
- A16°
- M21°
- J27°
- J31°
- A31°
- S25°
- O20°
- N14°
- D10°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Bagnoregio sits on a tuff ridge in northern Lazio, sixty kilometers from Perugia and a hundred north of Rome. The town itself is small and quiet, but it is famous for what comes next to it: Civita di Bagnoregio, the frazione one kilometer east, a separate Etruscan-founded village stranded on a tuff plateau that erodes a few centimeters every year. After the 1695 earthquake split Civita from the rest of the commune, the population emptied; today sixteen people live there year-round.
A reinforced pedestrian bridge built in 1965 is the only access. Civita is on the Borghi più belli d'Italia list and on most northern Lazio itineraries, and Bagnoregio, the larger and older town it grew out of, is where the bridge starts. Saint Bonaventure, the medieval Franciscan theologian and biographer of Saint Francis, was born here in 1221.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 1 h 53 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 2 h 51 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 25 min or Siena 1 h 51 min.
Coming by train into Perugia? Bagnoregio is about 1 h 25 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Ponte pedonale di Civita
Reinforced concrete pedestrian bridge built in 1965, replacing the donkey path that connected Civita to Bagnoregio after the 1695 earthquake.
Civita di Bagnoregio
Etruscan-founded frazione on an eroding tuff plateau, sixteen permanent residents, accessible only by the 1965 footbridge.
Cattedrale di San Donato (Bagnoregio)
Episcopal cathedral in the larger town, with works tied to the cult of Saint Bonaventure, born in Bagnoregio in 1221.
Valle dei Calanchi
Badland valley of eroded clay and tuff that surrounds Civita, the geological process that has been carving the plateau for two millennia.
Chiesa di San Donato (Civita)
Romanesque-Renaissance church on the small piazza of Civita, holding a fifteenth-century wooden crucifix attributed to the school of Donatello.
Living here
Could you live here?
Bagnoregio is at the end of the road.
- A village of 3,302. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Montefiascone, is 22 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Viterbo, a city of 66,393, is 31 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 3,302, down 9% since 2015
- Nearest city Viterbo, 31 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Orvieto, 13 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €550 to €850 per m² to buy, €2.60 to €3.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 83% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 1 h 23 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 42 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Albania and France, against 9% across Italy. 74 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly France, Germany and the United Kingdom. There are 370 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 41% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Viterbo province ranks 71st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Orvieto, 13 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 47 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 23 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.86% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Lazio spends about €2,270 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €647 a year for water, on the Lazio average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 6% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
CIVITA
Eroding tuff-plateau frazione one kilometer east, sixteen residents, accessible only by a footbridge built in 1965.
LA CITTÀ CHE MUORE
The dying town. The plateau loses centimeters of edge each year to landslides; the 1695 earthquake started the modern collapse.
SAN BONAVENTURA
Franciscan theologian and biographer of Saint Francis, born Giovanni di Fidanza in Bagnoregio in 1221, named Doctor of the Church.
TUSCIA
The commune lies inside the Tuscia DOP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Bagnoregio known for?
- Bagnoregio is the Etruscan-founded hill town in Tuscia whose frazione Civita di Bagnoregio sits on an eroding tuff plateau, reachable only by footbridge.
- Where is Bagnoregio?
- Bagnoregio is a comune in the province of Viterbo, in Lazio, at 484 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Bagnoregio?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 1 h 23 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Bagnoregio?
- About 1 h 25 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Bagnoregio?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Bagnoregio?
- Caprarola, Vitorchiano and Ronciglione.
- How many people live in Bagnoregio?
- 3,302 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Bagnoregio a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Bagnoregio is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Montefiascone, is 22 min away. The nearest city, Viterbo, is 31 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Orvieto, 13 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 83% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 484 m
- Population: 3,302
- Surface area: 72.81 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 80.
Montecchio
Province: Terni
A small hill commune at 377 meters above the Tiber, sitting on top of one of Umbria's largest Etruscan-tied necropolises.
18 km away
- Written about. No. 83.
Orvieto
Province: Terni
Etruscan Velzna on a 325-meter tufa butte, later a medieval refuge of popes.
28 min by car
- Written about. No. 66.
Viterbo
Province: Viterbo
The medieval capital of the Tuscia, papal seat from 1257 to 1281, when five popes were elected here, and home to the longest conclave in Church history.
31 min by car
Our guide
Bagnoregio is in our Tuscia guide
Tuscia: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Tuscia guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The land Rome took twice. 16 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.