Civita, Orvieto & Lake Bolsena

The civita di bagnoregio tour from civitavecchia follows a geology rather than a guidebook. The road north from the port enters a landscape shaped by volcanic eruptions and millennia of erosion, a world of tufa cliffs and ravines and plateau-top villages that the Etruscans first settled three thousand years ago. At the end of a narrow pedestrian bridge, Civita di Bagnoregio rises on its crumbling promontory as it has since the Etruscan period — except that the promontory is smaller each decade, the tufa eaten away by rain and wind until the village earned its Italian epithet: la città che muore, the dying city.

The dying city tour cruise civitavecchia itinerary continues to Orvieto — perched on its own volcanic mesa, its cathedral blazing gold against the sky — before descending to Lake Bolsena for the afternoon. At 114 square kilometres, Bolsena is the largest volcanic lake in Europe, and its shores have barely changed since the medieval pilgrims on the Via Francigena stopped here to rest. Orvieto Classico vineyards line the slopes above the water; a lunch by the lake, with a glass of local white wine and the surface perfectly still around the two islands, is one of those intervals that refuses to be hurried.

Three landscapes, one ancient geology

• Civita di Bagnoregio — the dying city

  Accessible only on foot across a 300-metre pedestrian bridge, Civita is one of the most dramatic inhabited places in Italy. A handful of permanent residents remain on a promontory that loses centimetres every year to erosion.

• Orvieto — cathedral and underground

  The Duomo di Orvieto is among the most ambitious Gothic facades in Italy. Beneath the city, a labyrinth of Etruscan and medieval tunnels has been carved into the volcanic tufa over two millennia — the underground tours are brief and extraordinary.

• Lake Bolsena — volcanic and serene

  The largest volcanic crater lake in Europe, surrounded by vineyards and medieval villages. Lunch here — freshwater fish, local Orvieto Classico, a table on the water — is among the quieter rewards of a day in northern Lazio.