Bagnoregio: The Dying City

Here is the link for the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59481748@N03/

Last weekend we went out to The Dying City.  About a half hour bus ride from Viterbo out into the countryside.  The dying city is just outside a slightly larger town called Bagnoregio.  We arrived by bus in to the town and had to walk about a mile outside town and down into this large valley to the the entrance of the city.  While walking down the hill we encountered probably the best view of the city perched atop a tall outcropping of red layered rock.  At the base of the city sat a restaurant and a couple other buildings.  We ate at the restaurant and sat for a little over an hour where I ate, the only one to get two plates, a bean and porcini soup for first plate, then a plate of mushroom and truffles in cream sauce over a thick regional pasta.  Very delicious.  We then made the hike up the long ramp up into the entrance to the city.  As you walk into the entrance of the town you step back in time through a few rough stone archways into the main piazza with a bar and a gift shop, then as you continue on down the main road you find the cathedral and the piazza outside that, then a little further down the main stretch you hit the end of town which goes down some stairs and turns to dirt as it wraps around the hillside below the city.  At the end of the dirt path there is a cave which runs through the hillside to the clear other side with another cave branching off halfway through.  It is said that this cave system connects to the basements of most of the houses as an escape route in times of attack.  The town today is only occupied by 12 full time residents.  It has 1 restaurant, 1 bar, 1 gift shop, 1 church, and a whole herd of cats who acted as our tour guides, probably more cats than actual residents.