05/19/2026
In Civita Bagnoregio the villlage which inspired Hayo Miyazaki’s castel in the sky.
A landscape shaped by eruptions of the nearby volcano Volciji which now sleeps under Europe’s latest Volcanic Caldera/depression lake. (Whose last eruption was actually in Roman times, about 2,000 years ago).
Calsnca - pleocene chalky clay bluffs topped by tufo (compressed ash) create extreme hilltops where people have lived since the time of the Etruscans.
This place is a dramatic expression of the geological history of southern Umbria and the Orvieto DOC zone which has clay, sandy clay, and volcanic terroirs.
I went to Bolsena a few days ago and while strolling through town ran into the father of a friend, Leo said to me “we orvietanos are children of Volcini…and i understood.