Villa Lante & Cvita di Bagnoregio - Afternoon of June 13, 2010

We spent our morning on an orientation walking tour of Soriano nel Cimino with Floriana, who organizes the tours, activities, and opera night for Palazzo Catalani. After the morning tour with Floriana, we ate homemade panini in our room. Our goals for the afternoon is to visit the gardens at Villa Lante in nearby Bagnaia, and perhaps visit Rick Steve's favorite city in Italy, Cvita de Bagnoregio.


Gardens of Villa Lante - We had little trouble driving to the town but ended up parking in a street spot because we missed a parking lot entrance. And then we walked right past the ticket booth and had to be pointed back to it. Part of the park-like grounds are free admission and contain an original - and large - Pegasus fountain/pool feature original to the garden grounds. It was first commissioned in the early 1500's by Cardinal Gianfrancesco Gambara - otherwise known as Cardinal Crayfish. The crayfish appears in many mural paintings that cover two "casini" (casinos), where lots of entertaining occurred back in the old days.

The gardens themselves feature cascading waterways, fountains, and dripping grottoes. Water seems to be everywhere and flows from one vessel or pool to another. There are three levels to the garden. The first contains a perfectly square parterre, which is a formal garden pattern consisting of tightly clipped hedging in a short maze-like arrangement. There is a large water feature at the center. The top of the steps on the next level is dominated by a water feature/fountain with reclining Neptune-like statutes. The third level of the garden is ascended by more stairs with a long narrow rippling basin in the center (to keep wine cool). On top there are more incredible statuary water surprises, grottos, and an open air casini.

Shortly after we arrived, a tour bus of retired Italians unloaded and the gardens lost some of their peacefulness. We moved a little faster than we would have preferred to keep ahead of them and experience the beautiful garden quietly in our own way. Otherwise, there were very few people there. In the end, we didn't linger and savor the gardens as much as we might have liked. We were hoping to take away ideas for our own backyard landscaping but there were so many water features and big statuary that it is difficult to translate these elements to a square backyard lot surrounded by T-111 and lap-sided boxy houses. (Tivoli and Villa d'Este gardens were on our wish list to see as well, but they were a good two-hour drive away toward Rome.)

The Dying Town - It is late in the afternoon, but we decide to head for Rick Steves' favorite Italian burg known as "the dying town" -  Cvita di Bagnoregio. He has, no doubt, been instrumental driving tourism there despite the claim of only 15 residents (about 100 in summer). It is only 30 miles away and we estimate it will only take us about 45 minutes to drive there. Plus, the days are long and this will be our only chance to see it, as the rest of the week's agenda is packed.

We had a heck of a time finding the parking lot at the base of the walking bridge from the mainland side of Bagnoregio to the tower of volcanic tuffa, from which the ancient Cvita rises. Looking at the Michelen map (a must to have) today, it's a wonder we even got there. The GPS was not at all helpful nor were the Italian answers I got when stopping to ask directions. The light appears to waning when we finally stumbled into the parking lot about 7 pm. No stopping now so we hot foot it up the long, wide tall paved bridge. We're a bit hungry and decide to order some infamous Cvita bruschetta and glass of wine at the first open restaurant we find - Bar Peppone. The bruschetta was unremarkable and even a bit dry, but the taste wasn't the point. We're here in Cvita noshing bread and sipping wine as we watch a work crew dismantle a stage where, apparently, there had been a concert earlier. Darn. Missed it. Their work is laborious as all the sound equipment and stage planking and steel supports must be hauled out on a dune buggy type vehicle, a few pieces at a time.

Next, we wander around the town snapping scenic pictures and trying to soak up as much atmosphere and experience as we can in an hour. Although Rick says the last living native Cvita resident no longer lives there, I swear that we come upon the old lady (Maria) walking slowly with the aid of a young woman. We hike back across the bridge in time to snap some golden light photos of Cvita. What a fun, magical place it is.