Italy’s Hidden Borghi: Four Medieval Villages That Still Feel Ancient

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Italy has more than 5,500 borghi — officially classified historic villages — yet fewer than 300 appear in major guidebooks. Most visitors to Italy follow the same well-worn path between Rome, Florence and Venice. But the country’s most extraordinary places are the ones that sit above deep river gorges, on crumbling volcanic plateaus, or on medieval ridgelines that most tourists never reach. These four borghi are the Italy even well-travelled Italophiles rarely find.

A borgo in Italy is a small historic settlement — usually a walled village or fortified hilltop town — with roots stretching back to the medieval period or earlier. Many fell silent during the twentieth century as Italians moved to the cities. Artists, farmers and travellers later discovered what the departing residents left behind: stone streets, ancient cellars, and a silence you cannot find anywhere else.

1. Civita di Bagnoregio: The Dying City

Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a volcanic tufa plateau in northern Lazio, and it is disappearing. Every year, rainwater and wind erode the edges of the plateau further. Geologists estimate that between 100 and 200 years remain before the tufa beneath the village collapses entirely. That fact alone makes a visit feel urgent.

The Etruscans founded the settlement more than 2,500 years ago. The Romans built on top of it. Medieval families carved cellars and homes directly into the volcanic rock. Today, Civita has eleven full-time residents. There are no cars above the footbridge. There are no tourist buses, no chain restaurants, and no noise beyond the wind and the occasional cat on a warm stone windowsill.

You reach Civita via a 300-metre pedestrian footbridge that connects the plateau to the modern town of Bagnoregio below. Admission is €5, collected at the base of the bridge. At the top: one main street, a Romanesque church that has stood since the twelfth century, stone arches worn smooth by centuries of hands, and a view across the Calanchi valley that no photograph does justice.

Getting there: drive to Bagnoregio and park in the lower town. The footbridge walk takes around ten minutes. From Orvieto it is a 30-minute drive. From Rome, allow approximately two hours. The official Civita di Bagnoregio site has current admission details and opening hours. For a longer drive through central Italy, our guide to tracing your family in Umbria pairs well with a Civita visit — Orvieto and Bagnoregio are both in this corner of the country.

2. Calcata: The Village That Artists Saved

In 1935, Italian authorities declared Calcata unsafe. The village sits on a volcanic rock above a deep forested gorge, 40 kilometres north of Rome. The Italian government said the rock was unstable and ordered the residents to leave. By 1970, Calcata was silent — empty stone houses, locked cellar doors, weeds growing through the cobbles.

Then artists arrived.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, painters, sculptors, musicians and writers moved into the abandoned houses, restoring them by hand. They planted gardens on the steep slopes below the village and opened studios in rooms that had been empty for decades. The rock, it turned out, was perfectly stable — local political pressure had partly driven the evacuation order, pushing residents toward a planned new settlement nearby.

Today Calcata has around 100 permanent residents. No cars enter the village — there is a car park at the gate, and everything beyond is pedestrian-only. Inside you will find art galleries, artisan workshops, a jazz bar in an eleventh-century cellar, organic farms on the terraced slopes below, and a resident community that has actively chosen to live in one of the stranger places in central Italy.

From Rome it is 90 minutes by road. The nearest large town is Civita Castellana, about 15 minutes away. There are no official entry fees — Calcata is a living village. Simply park below and walk up.

3. Pitigliano: La Piccola Gerusalemme

Pitigliano means “the Little Jerusalem.” The name has a specific and powerful history. For more than 1,500 years, a Jewish community lived and worked in Pitigliano. When Pope Clement VIII expelled Jews from Papal States territories in 1569, families fled to Pitigliano — then under the protection of the Orsini family — and found refuge there. The Orsini were independent of Rome and refused to comply. Pitigliano became a place of safety at a time when safety was rare.

The ghetto, synagogue and mikve (ritual bath) are now preserved as the Museo della Cultura Ebraica di Pitigliano, open to visitors throughout the year. Walking through the narrow lanes of the Jewish quarter, past doorways carved with Hebrew inscriptions, is one of the most affecting experiences in Tuscany.

Pitigliano sits on a ridge of volcanic tufa above three river valleys in the Maremma, a wild corner of southern Tuscany that most visitors never reach. The ridge itself is spectacular — from a distance, the town appears to grow directly from the rock, its houses and towers rising seamlessly from the pale yellow tufa below them.

Beneath the town, a network of Etruscan-era tunnels and wine cellars (called cantine) runs through the tufa. People have used these cellars since before the Romans arrived. Some are still used today for storing wine. The Orsini Fortress and Pitigliano official site has visitor information for the fortress and museum.

Getting there: Pitigliano is 80 kilometres from Grosseto and 170 kilometres from Rome. It makes a strong base for exploring the surrounding Maremma — the nearby borgo of Sovana (Etruscan tombs) and Sorano (cave dwellings) are within 15 minutes. If you enjoy driving through Italy’s interior, see our guide to driving in Italy as an American for practical advice on rural Italian roads.

4. Bomarzo and the Monster Park

Bomarzo is a small Lazio town about 80 kilometres north of Rome. The village itself is pleasant but unremarkable. The reason to visit Bomarzo sits one kilometre away through the surrounding woodland: the Parco dei Mostri — the Monster Park.

In 1552, Prince Vicino Orsini commissioned a garden unlike any other in Italian history. His wife, Giulia Farnese, had just died. The prince, in grief, decided to build something that followed no rules at all. Every Renaissance garden in Italy was built on principles of symmetry, geometry and order — they were demonstrations of human reason imposing harmony on nature. Orsini built the opposite.

The Parco dei Mostri fills the surrounding hillside with enormous stone sculptures carved from natural rock outcrops. There is no entrance gate, no central pathway, no symmetry. The sculptures simply appear among the trees. A fighting pair of stone giants, each as tall as a house. A stone whale. A stone dragon fighting two lions simultaneously. A stone tortoise carrying a figure on its back.

The most famous piece is the Mouth of Orcus — a giant face carved directly from the hillside rock, with an open mouth large enough to walk inside. The interior is a room. Above the mouth, an inscription in Italian reads: ogni pensiero vola — “all thoughts fly away.” Nobody is entirely sure what Orsini meant. That uncertainty is part of the point.

There is also a leaning house, built deliberately on a tilted axis. Walking inside it causes genuine vertigo. The floor slopes. The walls slope. Your eyes insist you are upright; your body disagrees.

Entry to the park costs approximately €12. It is 1 kilometre from Bomarzo village, clearly signposted. Allow at least two hours. The park opens every day of the year. For wider context on Italy’s ancient and Etruscan sites, see our guide to the Franciscan sanctuaries above Rieti — these are also in Lazio and combine well with a Bomarzo day trip from Rome.

Planning Your Visit to Italy’s Borghi

All four borghi are accessible by car. None requires a tour group or guided experience — they reward independent travel. The ideal way to visit Civita and Bomarzo together is a day trip from Rome (both are in Lazio and can combine in a single day). Calcata is only 40 kilometres from Rome and can easily join the same circuit.

Pitigliano is more remote and pairs better with a stay in the Maremma or a long southern Tuscany circuit that includes the Val d’Orcia and Monte Amiata. If Florence or Siena is your base, allow a full day for Pitigliano alone.

The best months to visit all four are April to June and September to October. July and August bring heat and — for Civita in particular — a sharp rise in visitor numbers. Spring and early autumn give you the same light without the queues.

These borghi are disappearing — not metaphorically but literally. Depopulation threatens all four. Civita’s plateau is eroding. Calcata’s fragile community depends on visitors who spend and support the local economy. Pitigliano’s Jewish heritage sites require ongoing maintenance and visitor revenue to survive. The most meaningful thing you can do when you visit is arrive, spend, and return.

Know someone who loves Italy beyond the tourist trail? These four villages are the Italy most people never reach. Send this to them before they book their next trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a borgo in Italy?

A borgo is a small historic Italian village or walled settlement, typically with medieval or ancient origins. Italy has more than 5,500 classified borghi. Many sit on hilltops or volcanic plateaus, built for defence centuries ago. The term describes any small historic settlement that has kept its original character and architecture.

How do I visit Civita di Bagnoregio?

Drive to the town of Bagnoregio and park in the lower car park. Walk to the 300-metre pedestrian footbridge and pay the €5 admission fee at the entrance kiosk. The footbridge walk takes around ten minutes. From Rome, the drive is approximately two hours. From Orvieto, it is 30 minutes. The village has no facilities beyond a small café — bring water in warm weather.

Is Bomarzo Monster Park worth visiting?

Yes. The Parco dei Mostri at Bomarzo is unlike any other site in Italy and has no direct equivalent anywhere else in Europe. Entry costs approximately €12 and the park takes two hours to explore properly. The Mouth of Orcus alone justifies the journey. The park suits all ages and opens year-round, including in winter when the woodland setting is particularly atmospheric.

Can I stay overnight in an Italian borgo?

Yes — many borghi have guesthouses, agriturismi (farm stays) or restored apartment rentals within or just outside the village walls. Calcata and Pitigliano both have accommodation options nearby. For Civita di Bagnoregio, the nearest overnight stays are in Bagnoregio itself or in Orvieto. Staying overnight means you can see the borgo after day visitors leave — often the most rewarding time to arrive.

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