Civita in the News

Italian Journal of Engineering Geology and Environment, 2025.12.29

 

'GEOMORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IN A HIGHLY DYNAMIC CONTEXT AS A KEY FACTOR IN CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE CASE OF CIVITA DI BAGNOREGIO (CENTRAL ITALY)'

Giovanni Maria di Buduo

Fig. 6 - Schematic model of instability phenomena and landslide movements on the Civita di Bagnoregio relief (details in the text). The morphological and phenomenological differences between the slopes are not represented in the image
 

“…The town of Civita, soaring proudly atop its cliff, would today be just a pile of debris in the absence of an industrious community capable of building and preserving its living space …” Giovanni Attili (2020).
 
Writes di Buduo: “It is imperative to highlight how, for a long time, the farming community played an indispensable role of territorial safeguard through a daily work of land maintaining, a role that was irretrievably lost with the gradual depopulation of the village and the consequent abandonment of the countryside…”

Fig. 5 - The reduction of the urban area Civita di Bagnoregio caused by landslides, on the basis of historical information: a) position of major landslides in the last 6 centuries; b) building destroyed between 1695 and 1829; c) building destroyed between 1829 and 1869; d) building destroyed after 1869; ?) uncertain date. B: St. Bonaventura native home (consecrated as a church in the XVI century). V: St. Vittoria church; P: St. Peter church (redrawn after: Ramacci, 1974; Margottini & Serafini, 1990; Sciotti et alii, 1997). Base: current cadastral map; graphic scale

But what now? Lifestyles have changed. Tourism feeds on the moniker of Civita as “the dying city”.

But from di Buduo, who dearly loves Civita, comes recommendations to adopt an ongoing program to stabilize and prevent landslides as much as possible with “constant geomorphological analysis and instrumental monitoring" [to]:

•       preserve soil integrity and spontaneous vegetation cover (over clayey surfaces);
•       regulate rainwater (and wastewater) in order to avoid the infiltration in the mass rock and the flowing on the clayey slopes (the places in the rivers [north and south of Civita] where water is channelled must be properly identified and stabilized);
•       prevent the deformation of the silty clay deposits at the base of the scarps as much as possible.
 
In 2023, the The Civita Institute’s first Cultural Landscape of Civita di Bagnoregio Fellowship was competitively awarded to Giovanni Maria di Buduo, geologist. More than two years later, after significant research and refinement of his fellowship project, Giovanni Maria’s work has been accepted for publication in the highly esteemed ‘Italian Journal of Engineering Geology and Environment’. (Download here.) Excerpts of the article are above.

In 2025, The Civita Institute awarded a third round of Cultural Landscape of Civita di Bagnoregio Fellowships to a team of three Italian engineers, Elisabetta D'Archangeli, Emanuele Fiore, and di Buduo in order to further analyze and identify best practices for the preservation of Civita di Bagnoregio. Restricted donations supporting these three fellowships are courtesy of the Wallace family and CrossCulture.

As nonprofit property owners in Civita, the Board of Directors of The Civita Institute is proud to participate in local efforts to stabilize and preserve not just its property but the entire borgo. We are rolling up our sleeves to turn Civita from "the dying city" into "the city that will not die". Join us here!


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The following is an incomplete list of article, editorial and commentary links on Civita di Bagnoregio, including general items of interest pertaining to Italian archituecture and preservation. Please email info@civitainstitute.org with any additional items that you would like us to consider for inclusion on this list. 

World Monuments Fund
Civita di Bagnoregio 

Media Articles

Geological Evolution in a Highly Dynamic Context as a Key Factor in Cultural Heritage: The Case for Civita di Bagnoregio (Central Italy) [Italian Journal of Engineering Geology and Environment, Dec. 29, 2025]

In Italy, A Medieval Town Confronts A Double Threat — Erosion And Too Many Tourists
[NPR, Oct. 8, 2017]

Who Will Save These Dying Italian Towns?
[The New York Times, Sept. 7, 2017]

Tourists Revive Italina Hilltop Village, but Nature Has Other Plans
[The New York Times, Sept. 9, 2015]