La Vita è Bzella

Like a fabled castle, the clouds parted, and the sky-high hilltown of Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy appeared. In a village that is supposedly timeless, the month we spent there went by in the blink of an eye.

Our days were filled with slow mornings, filtered coffee and biscuits, long and sweaty lectures in the classroom, drawing in the town square among herds of tourists, and dinner together in the garden overlooking the countryside. This routine became sacred and second nature to me. It was like living inside of a postcard!

Our weekly excursions took us around and beyond the Calanchi Valley. We toured the sunken burial sites of the ancient Villanovan and Etruscan civilizations; drove to Rome and visited the Forum and basilicas in rapid succession; and, hiked through a forest in Castel Cellesi and cooled off underneath a waterfall. Within the crumbling walls of Civita, we studied its ancient history, culture, and geology, tracing its evolution over a period of over two thousand years.

While the town was only 804 feet long it became my whole universe. It had a small footprint, but it left a deep impression on me. My return to America jolted me awake from my daydreaming, confronted with graduation, job hunting, and other earthly obligations. But there was comfort in knowing that, every now and then, I could escape to Civita, a fond fantasy that lives rent free in my head and heart.