Civita di Bagnoregio: Tourism Invasion Risks Turning Town into a Postcard

Civita di Bagnoregio, known as 'the dying town,' faces a new existential threat from mass tourism, according to an article by Giovanni Attili on Artribune. The town, built on eroding tufa rock, has long been defined by its precarious geology. In the 1960s, writer Bonaventura Tecchi coined its nickname to raise awareness of its fragility. However, that same label has been co-opted as a marketing tool, driving an unprecedented commodification. Pre-pandemic, Civita had only 12 permanent residents but attracted an estimated one million tourists annually. The town now charges an entry fee, public spaces are privatized by commercial establishments, and the only municipally owned building was converted into a tourist rental on Airbnb, with the mayor becoming its host. Funeral processions have been banned to avoid conflicts with tourist flows. Attili argues that the greatest risk is not geological collapse but the transformation of the town into a spectacularized postcard, where death itself becomes a fetishized attraction stripped of its sacred meaning. The article was published in Artribune Magazine #72.