Celleno Vecchia: the tufa village between the Orsini Castle and the badlands

There are villages you visit, and villages you cross on tiptoe. Celleno Vecchia, perched on a spur of tufa some fifteen kilometres from Viterbo and a stone's throw from the far more famous Civita di Bagnoregio, belongs to the second category. No one lives here any more, and yet the town has not vanished: it still stands, inhabited only by the wind and by those who feel like walking slowly.

The history of its abandonment

The story of this abandonment is written in the earth. For centuries the village, which arose on a volcanic hill surrounded by deep valleys, coexisted with landslides, tremors and the fragility of the subsoil. In the 20th century the situation came to a head: after the earthquakes of the 1930s the inhabitants began to move a little further off, giving rise to Celleno Nuova, and the old town was gradually emptied until its definitive abandonment in the middle of the century. What had been a structural problem became, in spite of itself, a time capsule.

Among the tufa alleys

You arrive on foot, leaving the car in the new town and covering a short stretch that is enough to change your pace. Before you opens a tangle of narrow alleys, houses of reddish, unplastered tufa, worn steps and arches that still hold. Above it all rises the Orsini Castle, with its stern façade, its moat and its watchtower: you reach it by crossing a small single-arch bridge, and from up there the gaze runs over the badlands all around.

Today the village is the subject of a restoration project promoted by the municipality and has been included among the properties flagged to the FAI; it can be visited freely for almost the whole year, while the castle and the museum spaces open mainly at weekends: it is worth checking the hours before setting off. It is a place that asks for respect rather than hit-and-run curiosity.

When to go

For those seeking an alternative to the mobbed "suspended" villages, Celleno Vecchia is the discreet answer: the same magic of stone and emptiness, without queues or crowds. Go in the shoulder seasons, when the light is soft and the badlands change colour, and walk without haste. The silence, here, is part of the landscape.

Related guides: Where to go at Easter without the crowds: villages and weekends in lesser-known Italy · The 25 April and 1 May long weekends: 13 villages to visit before the high season.

Getting there

Celleno Vecchia lies on the tufa hills of the Viterbo Tuscia, not far from Viterbo and from Civita di Bagnoregio. By car from Viterbo you follow the SP5 Teverina in the direction of Celleno; those arriving from Rome exit at the Orte toll gate on the A1 and continue on the trunk road towards Viterbo. You leave the car in the free car park of Celleno Nuova and reach the old village with a short walk on foot. The reference airports are those of Rome.

Practical guides for Viterbo

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• Where to eat in Viterbo
• How to get to Viterbo