Celleno Vecchia: The Red Tufa Borgo Suspended Among the Calanchi of Tuscia

Celleno Vecchia rises on a block of red tufa that stands up from the calanchi of Tuscia like an island of stone, at 350 metres elevation between two streams flowing toward the Tiber. Archaeological finds attest to a settlement here as early as the seventh century BC, during the Etruscan period. The village was progressively abandoned during the twentieth century as the tufa on which it is built eroded: houses fell into the void, streets cracked apart, the ground gave way underfoot. Final abandonment came in 1962, when one side of the village was demolished with explosives for safety reasons.

Today Celleno Vecchia is a partially visitable ghost town, a few kilometres from Bagnoregio — the famous Civita — but without the crowds and the entrance fee. You enter across the bridge that connects the tufa boulder to the surrounding countryside, and find yourself in a village suspended in nothing: below lie the clay calanchi, around you the void, above the sky. The FAI (Italian National Trust) included Celleno Vecchia among its protected properties in 2018.

The houses are in various states of preservation: some still standing with their roofs, others reduced to perimeter walls, others collapsed into the void leaving only foundations. The church is the largest structure, its interior empty, light entering through broken windows. The Orsini castle — documented since 1026, later passing to cardinals and the Apostolic Chamber — dominates the upper part of the borgo with its Maschio, the square tower that served as a watchtower, and defensive walls over ten metres high.

Walking through Celleno Vecchia is like walking through a sculpture: the red tufa has organic forms, curves, holes, protrusions. The houses seem to have grown from the rock rather than been built upon it. Erosion continues to carve the boulder, and every year the borgo loses another piece — a wall, a threshold, a corner.

The comparison with Civita di Bagnoregio is inevitable: both rise on a tufa boulder surrounded by calanchi, both are accessible only on foot. But where Civita has become a themed attraction with a ticket and crowds, Celleno has remained an authentic ruin, with no infrastructure and no pretensions. Celleno is also known as the "city of cherries": a festival dedicated to this local specialty is held in mid-June.

It can be visited in an hour, reachable from Viterbo (20 km). It pairs well with Civita di Bagnoregio (14 km away), Lago di Bolsena and the borghi of Viterbo's Tuscia. The best time is spring and autumn.

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