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The story of Civita di Bagnoregio pulsates in the inexorable process of evolution and change. It is in the very nature of its tormented earth to do so: collapse and reconstruction, abandonment and repopulation, vital links torn asunder and new relations forged. Every time surrender seems to loom unavoidably, the village rediscovers a new lease on life. A new ability to live.
Thus Civita offers itself to us as a place of circular time: a time in which death heralds a cyclical refoundation of the existing. It is this cyclical concept that allows the land of Civita to signify death. To turn death into a travelling companion. At the end of the day, Civita's story has always been its ability to turn death into an inhabited space.
Giovanni Attili is Associate Professor of Town Planning at Rome's Università La Sapienza where he lectures in sustainable development and the analisys of urban and territorial systems. His publications include: Rappresentare la città dei migranti (Jaca Book, Milan 2008) and Il pianeta degli urbanisti (in conjuction with Enzo Scandurra, DeriveApprodi, Rome 2013).